Oy With The Poodles Already
by rizandace
Summary: Between Dean and Logan, Chilton and Stars Hollow, Rory had a lot of questions and no answers. Suck at summaries, just give it a try!
1. Prologue

_Oy with the Poodles Already!_

Prologue:

Rory is at Chilton. She and Logan have been best friends since they were babies. Logan also goes to Chilton, as does Colin, Finn, Stephanie, Rosemary, Juliet, Tristan, and Paris. Paris is dating Doyle. Finn and Rosemary are dating, and so are Juliet and Tristan. Stephanie and Colin have been dancing around eachother for years, but finally in the summer before their senior year of high school, they got together. All of these people are in a group. They hang out lots of days after school at any one of their houses, or maybe in Stars Hollow with Lane, who is dating Zach. Jess lives in Stars Hollow and is also best friends with Rory. He used to be in love with her, but he accepted that he can never have her, and the two became very close. The others aren't very close with Jess but they accept him and are nice to him and visa versa. Jess and Lane both work as waiters at Luke's. Rory is dating Dean, but everyone else can see that they are no good together. Dean works at Doose's. Lorelai and Luke are not dating, but they will be eventually:) Lorelai is currently single. The rest of Stars Hollow is its same quirky self. Rory wants to go to Yale instead of Harvard and the rest of the gang (minus Jess and Lane) is planning on going there as well.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello! So the prologue was really just setting up what is going on in this story. This is chapter one. If you hate it, feel free to comment. I LOVE REVIEWS so please leave one! I have Chapter two almost ready, but I'm not putting it up until I get five reviews so I know whether or not this is any good and even worth continuing. Thanks, guys!

* * *

Chapter 1:

Rory woke up on the first day of school to a very loud voice yelling at her. "Rory! RORY!!! Fruit of my loins! Wakey wakey! I have coffee! The elixir of life!" Lorelai Gilmore excitedly called out to her 17 year old daughter as she pushed open the door to her room.

"Mmmmh… coffee?" Rory slowly pushed herself up and grabbed the mug from her mother's hands. "Mm. Coffee."

"So… are you excited?" Lorelai asked her as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"For what?" Rory replied cheekily, for she knew exactly as to what her mother was referring.

"For School! You know, I was thinking, today is the last first day of school you are EVER going to have! Well, besides afterwards, when you go to Yale."

"Yes, mom. Good observation. Now leave so I can get ready."

"After 17 long hours of labor, the buying of the food, clothes, books, etcetera, the teaching you the joys of junk food and coffee, you'd think I would be shown some respect. Apparently not," Lorelai said jokingly.

"Fine. Oh, dearest mother of mine, would you _please_ momentarily excuse yourself while I get dressed for school so that we can go to Luke's and _get more coffee_?" Rory put emphasis on the last three words, knowing that the promise of coffee would persuade her mother to do anything.

"I'm gone," She said and swiftly departed.

* * *

"So, is Dean meeting us here?" Lorelai asked as she and Rory found a table at Luke's.

"Yeah, he should be here any minute," Rory said as she flagged down Luke.

"Well, I guess we're lucky that Jess has the morning off," Lorelai said, her expression deadly serious.

Rory sighed. "I still don't see why everyone can't just be mature adults and get to be friends with the guy who I have been dating for three months now,"

Lorelai was about to respond when she was interrupted by Luke.

"What can I getcha?"

"Ummm…. Pancakes and bacon. And coffee, of course," Rory replied. He turned to Lorelai.

"Eggs. And sausage. And-"

"Yeah, I know. Coffee. Comin' right up," Luke replied with his usual gruff manner as he went to place their order.

The ringing of the bell above the door signaled the entrance of Dean Forrester, who came in and sat down next to Rory.

"Hello," he said, greeting her with a small peck on the lips.

"Hey, we just ordered but I can go ask Luke to make you something," Rory replied.

"Nah, that's ok. I already ate something at home. My mom insisted that she make me my breakfast on the first day of the year."

Rory smiled at her boyfriend. She turned when she heard a voice call her name from behind the counter.

"Ror!" Jess called.

"Jess!" Rory got up and walked over to where her friend was waiting. "Do you have it?!" She asked excitedly.

"Have what?"

"Jess! Come on, you're killing me!"

"Fine. Here," he said, sliding a book across the counter to her.

"Thank you thank you thank you! You're the best friend EVER!" She said, immediately opening the book and reading.

"Um… Ror? Your boyfriend is over there giving me the death-stare. You might want to get back over there," Jess said, glaring at Dean.

Rory sighed. "Fine. Thanks for the book. I'll give it back as soon as I'm finished."

"Liar. You'll give it back as soon as you finish, and then Paris finishes. And then possibly after all your other Chilton friends finish.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll give it back after Paris, Rose and I finish. No one else can put up with your notes in the margins," She smiled and walked back over to the table, where Luke had just finished setting down their breakfasts.

"So… you got a new book?" Dean asked, somewhat roughly.

"Yeah, Jess is letting me borrow it. I'm so excited."

Dean visibly tensed at mention of Jess, and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Rory asked innocently, digging into her pancakes.

"What? Oh, nothing," Dean said, turning away from Rory.

Rory might have pressed the subject if she had not been interrupted by a very disgruntled Kirk running into the diner.

"Luke! I need a patty-melt sandwich, and I need it fast. Lulu told me to meet her at the gazebo in 5 minutes, and she hates it when I'm late,"

"Comin' up, Kirk, take a seat," Luke said, rolling his eyes as he went into the back to tell Ceaser to start the sandwich.

"Negative, Luke. Sitting down will only waste time."

Rory snorted. Lorelai tried to hold back laughter. Dean was unsuccessful and doubled over, laughing loudly. Rory put her hand over his mouth and Lorelai shushed him loudly. That only made the three laugh harder.

"What's so funny?" Lane Kim asked, walking into the diner with her boyfriend Zach.

"Kirk," Lorelai said, as if that explained everything. And in a way, it did.

* * *

About half way through their breakfast, Lorelai received a call on her cell. Blatantly ignoring Luke, who was pointing at the "No Cell Phones" sign furiously, Lorelai answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, hun, are you on your way yet?" a frazzled-sounding Sookie St. James said on the other end.

"Umm… no, I'm still at Luke's, Sook, what's wrong?"

"No, nothing's, uh… Well, Michel is angry about something or other, and I'm scared to come out from the kitchen. I think he might have thrown the keyboard at one of the guests. I'm not sure…"

"Ok, don't worry," Lorelai said, trying to keep a straight face, but being completely unsuccessful. "I'm on my way." She hung up and begun to gather her things.

"Sorry, kiddos," She said, referring to Rory, Dean and Lane who were all talking about the up-coming first day of school. "I have to run; Michel is throwing things at the guests,"

"K, Mom. Good luck," Rory said, completely unfazed at the thought of the angry French man throwing things at the Dragonfly Inn.

"Actually, Rory, I should probably go too," Lane said apologetically. "Zach! Let's go!" Lane called to her boyfriend, who was at the counter discussing music with Brian and Jess.

"Coming!" He yelled back. "Bye guys, I'll talk to you soon, and I'm bringing you that CD, Jess. You've gotta hear 'em."

"Lookin' forward to it," Jess said. Rory detected faint sarcasm in his response that went unnoticed by Zach.

"Dean, I should go too if I want to catch the bus," Rory said, gathering her jacket and gulping down the rest of her coffee.

"Ok, will I see you after school?" Dean asked hopefully.

"Umm… well, actually, Dean, I sort of have plans," Rory said, wincing at the conversation that was about to take place.

"With who?" Dean said, getting mad.

"Um… We were all going to head over to… Logan's place after school and work on all the homework we're sure to have and then have a movie marathon," Dean's face darkened when she said Logan's name.

"Rory, come on. I'm your boyfriend, not Logan. Not Jess. Not the Logan look-alike, or Colin, or the drunk Aussie dude," Dean said.

"You mean Tristan? Finn? And he's not always drunk," Rory said, getting defensive of her best friends.

"Whatever," Dean said, grabbing his back-pack and heading out the door, leaving Rory staring at the place he had just been.

* * *

A/N: Well?? Review Review Review!!! And if you notice any small changes: It is just for the sake of the story, I know things are different in the show. For example: Yes, I know Rory and Dean would have been dating for longer than three months at the beginning of senior year, but I am changing it. mwahaahahah. Ok I'm done. Review! 


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: For all those concerned that this is going to be the exact same story that I'm sure you have all read a thousand times, bear with me until Chapter 5 or 6 (I'm not quite sure...) I have some interesting ideas up my sleeve. Three reviews before I put up chapter three!

* * *

Chapter 2:

Rory walked to her new locker and opened it up. She was so engrossed with organizing her books that she didn't notice the person who had snuck up on the other side of the locker door. When she slammed it shut, she was face to face with a smirking blonde-haired, brown-eyed boy, who was leaning against the lockers as if he lived there.

Rory smiled and squealed, throwing her arms around Logan Huntzberger. He laughed and hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight.

"Hey, Ace. That was a lovely greeting," He said, his smirk growing into a smile as Rory blushed and untangled herself from one of her best friends.

"How was London?" Rory asked. She hadn't seen Logan all summer due to the fact that his evil father had dragged him away to make him "learn the family business."

"Dull. Uneventful. Terrible. I missed everyone," Logan said.

"Well we all missed you too," Rory said. And it was true. She and Logan had always spent a lot of time together during the summer, and this was the first year that was made impossible.

"Hey, Girlie!" Rory heard a voice from behind her and spun around to see a bubbly blonde girl bounce forward and envelope her in a big hug.

"Steph! Hey, how was the Vineyard?" Rory asked, hugging Stephanie tightly. She hadn't seen a lot of Stephanie this summer either, her and her family had been vacationing in Martha's Vineyard.

"It was great. It would have been more fun if I could have brought my boy-toy with me," she laughed.

"Steph, I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't call me that," a voice said from behind Logan.

"Colin!" Logan said.

"Hey, man! How was London?" Colin said, sharing a brief "man hug" with his best friend.

"Boring," Logan said, turning to Stephanie. "I don't believe I've gotten a hello from you, yet, Vanderbuilt."

Steph smiled and stepped up to Logan, giving him a hug.

"Congrats," Logan smirked, whispering into her ear.

"On what?" Steph asked, confused.

"I was so excited when Colin called and told me the news. You two should have gotten together forever ago," Logan said.

Understanding lit Steph's face. "Oh, yeah… well, I guess it's been a long time coming, but I'm happy with the way things turned out," She smiled, her eyes sparkling as she turned to her boyfriend. They joined hands.

"You two are sickening," an Australian voice called out from the end of the hall. Finn was walking toward them, his arm around his beautiful red-headed girlfriend Rosemary.

Colin glared at his best friend. "Oh, yeah? Well you were even worse when you finally got together with Rose," he said.

Finn shrugged, accepting this. "Mate!" He said, turning to Logan. "Long time, no see!"

"Hey, Finn," Logan said, sharing a hug with him and watching as the boy turned toward Rory.

"Love! How was your summer? I feel like I didn't get to see you enough," He said, hugging her.

"Finn, you saw me last week, remember?" Rory said, laughing at him.

"Did I? Where was that?" he asked scrunching up his face, trying to remember.

"You were drunk," Rory said.

"Ah, well that makes sense," Finn said, smiling.

Rory rolled her eyes and turned to Rosemary.

"Hey, Rosie!"

"Hey Ror, how have you been?" Rosemary smiled at Rory. They were very close during the school year, but seemed to have lost contact during the summer.

"I've been ok, Jess let me borrow that book we were texting about a few weeks ago," Rory said, smiling. Of all her friends, Jess, Paris and Rosemary were the only ones that shared her strange love of all things read-able.

"Oh, can I read it next?" She asked, grinning.

"Actually I promised it to Paris next, but you'll be after her in line,"

"What did you promise me?" Paris asked, storming up to the rather large group that had gathered around Rory's locker.

"The book Jess lent to me," Rory said.

"Oh, the one about the '60's?" Paris asked.

"Yeah, that's it. So Paris how was your summer?" Rory asked.

"Fun. I met Doyle's parents. They seem to approve," Paris said in her usual formal manner.

"Well that's always a good sign," Steph said, smiling at Paris.

"Yes, but I miss him already," Paris sighed.

"He lives close, Paris, and next year you guys will go to the same College, so that'll be good," Colin said. Doyle was a freshman at Yale, the Ivy-League school that they were all planning to attend.

The group continued to talk and laugh with eachother, telling stories about their summer vacations. Rory looked around and noticed that two people were missing.

"Hey, has anyone seen Tristan and Juliet?" She asked, turning to her friends.

"Umm…" Finn said, looking around. "There!" He said, pointing to the end of the hallway, where the picture-perfect blonde couple were stopping to talk to a few of their friends.

"Tris! Jules!" Steph called down the hallway.

Tristan looked up when he heard is nick-name and smiled at his friends.

"C'mon, Julie," Tristan swung his arm over Juliet's shoulders and let her over to the large group standing around at the opposite end of the hallway.

"Hey, Tristan. Jules," Logan greeted, giving his friends a hug.

"How was London?" Juliet asked.

The bell rang, cutting off Logan's response. "I'll tell you all about it at lunch," he said, smiling at Juliet and pulling out his schedule. "Anyone else have World History first period?"

"I do," Stephanie said.

"Me too," Tristan said.

"Ok, let's go," Logan left with Steph and Tristan as they headed off for their first class.

"Calculus?" Rory asked, looking around at the group.

Paris, Finn, and Colin raised their hands and the four headed off.

"What do you have, Jules?" Rosemary asked.

"English. You?"

"Same, let's go."


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Ok, Chapter Three. Give me three reviews and I will give you the next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 3:

The final bell rang and Rory jumped out of her seat. Her final class of the day had been Math, and she was happy to escape the droning voice of her teacher. She had been lucky enough to have all of her classes with at least one of her friends, and she smiled as she saw Logan waiting for her to pack up her books so they could leave together.

"So, Ace, was the first day everything you thought it would be?" He asked, smiling at the absurdity of his best friend's love of school.

"Yeah, the homework on the first day is kind of a bummer, though," She said, smiling as he put his arm casually over her shoulder. Any outsider watching the scene would have thought the two were dating, but the gesture was nothing but friendly. The two teenagers met up with the rest of the gang in the parking lot, and they all went to their cars. Rory rode with Logan.

Just as they were pulling up in front of his huge mansion-like house, Rory's cell phone went off loudly.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Daughter of mine!" Lorelai's voice sounded from the other end.

"No cell phones!" Could be heard faintly in the background.

"Hey, Mom! What's up?"

"Oh, just wanting to make sure your plans haven't changed. Are you staying the night at Logan's or do you need me to come get you?"

"Um… I think I'll just stay the night. I have extra clothes there and everything I need," Rory said.

"Won't Dean be mad if you stay the night there?" Lorelai asked.

"Well he deserves it. He was really rude this morning and practically accused me of cheating on him," Rory said huffily, remembering back on the events of that morning. Logan stiffened, trying hard not to care about Rory's fight with Dean. Ever since Rory started dating Dean, Logan had tried hard to push back the feelings he was having. Suddenly, the meaningless flirting and partying with all of Chilton's females wasn't enough. Logan was ready for more. But he couldn't be falling for Rory. Rory was taken. He repeated this in his head like a mantra as he opened Rory's door for her and listened to her recount this morning's argument to Lorelai.

Logan was furious at Dean for saying what he had said to Rory. He listened to the one-sided conversation and the more he heard, the madder he got. Why didn't she just dump him? No one was aloud to mess with his Ace without paying the consequences. Wait… _My Ace? _Thought Logan. _Where did that come from? I have got to stop thinking like this!

* * *

_

They were all curled up in Logan's enormous bedroom, watching The Godfather III. The first two were watched amongst laughing, talking, eating way too much food and possibly a little kissing for the three couples present, but by the third movie, everyone was exhausted.

Rory looked around and smiled at the picture she saw. Rory knew that everyone in this room would be there for her in a second if she needed them. She could always count on Paris, Lane, Jess or her mom as well, the four other people she considered best friends who were not present in the room. Colin and Stephanie were lying together, asleep, at the foot of the bed. Finn and Rosemary were sitting in a huge overstuffed bean-bag, drifting off. Rory noticed Finn lazily playing with her flaming red hair. Tristan had a sleepy Juliet on his lap as he sat in the remaining chair. That left Rory to her spot on the bed with Logan. It was always like this. When the eight of them did things together, Logan and Rory were always paired up. Of course, they were just friends.

_Just friends!_ Rory reminded herself sternly. _Dean, Dean, Dean! Think about Dean!_ But she couldn't help but notice how… _right _it felt to curl up next to Logan, her head on his shoulder, his arm holding her tightly against his side. But she was with Dean, and Logan was with… well, no one, but that status changed weekly. Rory never understood Logan's behavior with women. He was the most devoted person in the world when it came to his friends, but he never kept a girl around longer than a few weeks. She sighed, agitated by the mixed feeling she was having.

"What's wrong?" Logan mumbled to her, half asleep. Rory smiled in spite of herself. He knew her too well.

"Nothing, just thinking about all the homework I have to do tomorrow," she lied.

"Right," he said, and rolled his eyes. "Fine, don't tell me."

"Ok, sounds good," she looked up at him and smiled. It quickly turned into a frown as she realized that never once had she been able to just… be with Dean in complete silence that wasn't uncomfortable. They were always talking. With Logan, words were unnecessary. She always knew what he meant, and visa versa.

"Ace?" Logan said, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" Rory said, snapping out of her thoughts.

"I lost you there, for a sec," he said, a worried expression covering his face.

"Oh, no, I'm fine, just tired, I guess," she smiled weakly up at him, trying to reassure him.

"Ok, if you're sure," he said, his frown deepening.

"I'm sure," she said.

"Let's get some sleep," he said, and he kissed her forehead before closing his eyes, keeping his arm around her.

Rory's eyes remained wide open as she tried to ignore the tingle she had felt when he pressed his lips to her head.

* * *

A/N: Short, I know. Keep up the reviews, please and thank you. I'm writing as fast as I can, but I don't know how much I can do. Homework is keeping me swamped. I'm trying, though!! 


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Here it is! Chapter four! Just an FYI- The first climactic scene is coming up in Chapter 6, so review review review or I wont put up the next chapter. 4 ReviewsChapter 5!

* * *

Chapter 4: 

It was the next morning. Lorelai showed up to the inn a little later than usual, having had a hard time convincing Luke to give her one last cup of coffee for the road. The conversation had started with "Hey Luke, one more cup, please," And ended with Lorelai on her knees giving Luke Bambi eyes. Which wasn't really fair, considering she knew he couldn't say no to either of the Gilmore girls when they pulled that tricky maneuver. As a matter of fact, Lorelai and Rory didn't know very many guys who could resist the look.

It was using this nice little weapon that she had finally convinced Michel to man the desk and behave while she went back into the kitchen to talk to Sookie. He had complained for a while in French, but eventually conceded.

"Hey, Sook!" Lorelai said, announcing her entrance to the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Hun! There's a fresh pot if you're interested," Sookie responded, slightly distracted by the meal she was preparing.

"Aren't I always?" She answered, heading over to the coffee pot and pouring a cup, her fifth that day.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Luke's diner, a certain Mr. Danes was nearing the end of his patience. Sitting in his diner at this very moment were the four most annoying people in town: Babette, Miss Patty, Kirk, and the worst of all, Taylor. Taylor was talking about this year's Dance Marathon, begging Luke once again to donate free coffee for the event. 

Luke was not budging. It was after ten minutes of babbling in his ear that Miss Patty and Babette started in, listing all the benefits to him and the town if he gave in to Taylor. Kirk was sitting there trying to decide what to order. Every ten minutes, he called Luke over, determined that he had decided what to eat. About half way through his order, he would change his mind, and Luke got a little closer to snapping.

"FINE!!!" He shouted, finally having gone to the very limit of his patience. "I will give free coffee. I will _give _free coffee. Now get out of my diner!!!"

* * *

School ended, and Rory sighed before gathering her books and heading for the door. Logan beat her there and stopped her at the door. 

"Need a ride?" He asked, smiling. He had taken her to school that morning, after their movie marathon.

Rory debated for a minute. She wanted to accept Logan's offer, but if Dean happened to see his car driving through town, she knew it would be bad.

"Um, I want to, but… I don't think if… Dean…"

"I got it, Ace, its ok," Logan said, putting on an understanding front. In truth, he felt like he had just been punched in the gut. It was a common side-effect whenever Dean's name was mentioned.

"It's just because he was kind of mad yesterday that I was going to be hanging out with you guys instead of him, and I don't want to add any more fuel to the fire, so…" Rory said, truly apologetic. Logan smiled at her. It was obvious that she really did want to ride home with him.

"Its ok, Rory, really," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Ok, well, I'll just, um, go catch the bus," Rory said, stepping reluctantly away from Logan and turning to the bus loading area.

* * *

"Dean?" Rory said, stepping up to her boyfriend slowly. 

Dean turned around from stacking canned foods in Doose's Market slowly, facing Rory and crossing his arms over his chest.

"What?" Dean said, his glare icy.

"Look," Rory said, getting angry. She had wanted to approach Dean calmly and work this out, but now he was acting like _she_ had done something wrong. "I came here to try and work things out with you. Logan is my friend. Jess is my friend. Colin, Finn and Tristan are my friends. They were my friends long before you were my boyfriend. Just because you have issues with them, doesn't mean I am going to just ditch all of them. I need to spend time with them, too. I hate fighting with you, Dean."

"I… I hate it too," Dean said, his eyes softening. "I'm sorry, Rory, I just… I care about you and I don't want to lose you to anyone. Can you forgive me?" His voice was soft, caring. Rory looked into his eyes, and saw sincerity there. He opened his arms to her, and she stepped in to him. Dean buried his face in her hair, and Rory tried to ease the knot in the pit of her stomach. Things with Dean were going great. Great, just great.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai was sitting at home alone on the couch. Rory was off on a date with Dean. After their recent fight, they apparently needed time alone together. Lorelai was trying hard to ignore the uneasy look that crossed Rory's face every time Dean's name was even brought up. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was 10:15. Rory was due home any second. 

She turned back to the TV, flicking through the channels randomly.

Suddenly, her frantic daughter ran into the room, grabbed the remote from her hand, and clicked off the TV.

"MOM! I've got news," Rory said. She seemed freaked out, possibly excited, and more than a little scared.

"What? What? Are you ok?" Lorelai asked, suddenly worried for her daughter.

"No, no… I mean, its good news. I think. This is why I need you to give me some maternal advice," Rory said, visibly shaking.

"Ok…" Lorelai said, unsure where this was heading.

"Dean… well, tonight, he told me he… well, we were… eating, and then… he said something, and… I…well-"

"RORY! Spit it out!!" Lorelai yelled, frustrated by Rory's nonsensical babble.

"He told me he loves me," Rory said.

Lorelai stared at her, open mouthed. "Did you…" she finally got out. "Did you say it back?"

"Yes," Rory said, smiling softly to herself. "Yes, I did."

* * *

A/N: Don't hate me! I hate Dean, and Rory and Logan will get together soon! Just wait for it! 


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Ok, I'm sensing some... distress over the whole "I love you" thing. But guys, I hate Dean. I really do. This is a Rogan. Have patience with me for a little while longer and you'll get your Rogan. I promise. :) I know where this is going. Ok, read on! Five reviewsChapter 6!

* * *

Chapter 5:

The Dance Marathon was scheduled for the following Saturday. Despite Rory's protests of participating in the years past, this year, she was excited. She had a boyfriend to dance with. A boyfriend who _loved_ her.

Lorelai, by contrast, was unusually sullen about this year. She didn't have anyone to dance with. Her last failed relationship had been Max Medina, and now she had no one to ask. Sitting in the diner Wednesday morning before heading off to work, she thought about her options. Rory? Nope. Chris? No way. Luke? Lorelai did a double-take. _Luke?!!_ _Of course not Luke. It's… It's… Luke! And besides, he never participates in any of these things anyways. But maybe I could just ask. Yeah. I'll just… wait, what? No! I'm not asking Luke to the dance marathon! What am I thinking?_ Lorelai sighed deeply. On and off for the past couple weeks she had seriously considered asking Luke to dance with her. She knew she was too nervous to ever ask, which scared her even more. Since when did she, Lorelai Gilmore, get nervous? She stared down at her plate of pancakes and tried to push away these bizarre freakish feelings she had been having.

* * *

"Hey, Dean?" Rory called out after school, rushing up to her boyfriend in Doose's. "Are we doing the Dance Marathon this Saturday? I thought it would be fun."

Dean turned to her with apologetic eyes. "I'm really sorry, Rory, but I can't do it. Taylor is giving me time and a half if I stay on while the rest of the town participates."

"Oh, that's fine," Rory said, smiling and trying to hide her disappointment. Why had she just taken for granted that they would go?

"Thanks for understanding, you're the best," Dean said, leaning over and kissing her.

"No problem," she said, still keeping the fake smile on her face.

"I have to get back to work, but I'll talk to you later," Dean said. "I love you."

"I love you too," Rory said, smiling at how naturally the words came to Dean. She tried to ignore the way her stomach got queasy whenever she actually voiced them. She loved Dean. Really, she did.

* * *

Lorelai was in the diner, waiting for her daughter to meet her there for coffee and an after school kind of early dinner/late lunch. She still couldn't decide who to ask to the dance marathon. She sighed, sneaking a glance at Luke, who was being handed an order pad by his nephew. Lorelai smiled at the exchange. Though they both pretended to be unattached and emotionless, but Lorelai saw how much they really cared about eachother.

"Mom, hey. Sorry I'm late. I was talking to Dean," Rory said, coming into the diner and plopping down on the seat next to Lorelai.

"No problem, sweets. How was your day?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, it was fine. I gave the book Jess lent me to Paris, I just finished it on the bus this morning," Rory said. At that moment, Jess came up to their table.

"Did you like it?" Jess asked, sitting down on the other side of Rory without being asked.

"I loved it, you were right," Rory said, smiling at Jess.

"I told you. But you just wouldn't believe me," Jess said, smirking.

"Fine, fine, I give. You win," Rory said, rolling her eyes at her best friend's insistence

* * *

"Rory!" she heard her name called down the hallway at Chilton. It was Thursday morning, and Paris was racing towards her.

"Hey, Paris, what's the rush?" Rory asked, noticing her friend's heavy breathing.

"Doyle told me he loved me last night," she said, very excited and a little frazzled.

"Paris, that's amazing!" Rory said, giving Paris a hug a huge smile.

"Yeah, I know, and I said it back and I'm really confidant that I meant it. Isn't it just the best feeling ever?"

"I know what you mean. Dean told me he loves me the other night, and I said it back," Rory admitted. She had told Lane and her Mom of course, and Jess had asked why she was so smiley at breakfast that morning, so she had told him, too. But for some reason, she had held back from telling the Chilton crowd about the newest phase of her relationship with Dean.

"Oh, my god! Really?" Stephanie asked, coming up to the pair standing at Rory's locker.

"Yeah," Rory said shyly.

Around the corner of the hallway, Logan listened to the conversation between the girls. He felt sick. She loved him? She loved him. This news shouldn't bother him. He had no reason to be bothered. But he was. Why? But there really wasn't any reason to ask this question, because he already knew the answer. He listened in to the rest of the girl's talk.

"Yeah, and it was great and all, but the Annual Stars Hollow dance marathon is taking place this Saturday, and when I asked him to go, he told me he couldn't. I had kind of taken for granted that we would go, and I guess I'm a little disappointed," Rory said to a growing audience. Rosemary was listening now, and Juliet was walking toward them.

"Did you ask anyone else to go?" Rose asked her.

"I thought about asking Jess to go, but I figured that he would never let me drag him to one of those things.

"What about Logan?" Paris asked.

"What?" Rory said, shocked at the suggestion.

"Logan," Juliet said.

"Yeah, he'd be happy to go with you," Steph said.

"Well… I guess I could… yeah, I mean, why not? I'll ask Logan, sure," Rory said.

Logan decided to make his presence known.

"Ask me what, Ace?" he said, stepping up to the group, pretending to just walk up.

"Are you doing anything Saturday?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

Logan knew he would go, no matter what. But he wanted to give her a little trouble before giving in.

"What time?" he asked.

"It's for the dance marathon, so… all day."

"You want to dance with me? What about Dean?" Logan asked, feigning shock.

"He couldn't make it. So can you go?" she asked.

"Sure, Ace, yeah I'll dance with you," he said with a smile.

_

* * *

Ok, Lorelai. This is ridiculous. Luke is your friend. The dance marathon is the day after tomorrow. Just ask him to dance. This is silly. Stop pacing. Move your foot. No! Move your foot _towards the diner!_ Come on Lorelai._ Lorelai was walking back and forth past the entrance of the diner, debating on whether or not to go in. School had ended for Rory a few hours ago, but she was at Finn's house working on homework with the Chilton gang. 

At that moment an attractive blonde woman wearing a business suit breezed smoothly past her and into the diner.

Luke was busy filling coffees, seeing as Lane had band practice and Jess was upstairs "doing his homework" also known as being lazy. The diner was not particularly busy this afternoon, so Luke had no reason to complain. He looked up when he heard the bell above the door ring and locked eyes with a blonde woman wearing business attire.

"Mr. Danes?" she called out.

"That's me, what can I do for you?" Luke asked politely.

"I'm Mr. Doose's lawyer. He wanted me to come here and go over some papers with you," the woman said, smiling at Luke kindly.

"Oh, for the space next door?"

"That's right. It's really basic stuff, but Mr. Doose likes to be thorough," She said.

"Oh that's no problem…" Luke said, trailing off, realizing he didn't know the woman's name.

"Nicole Lacey," she said, putting her hand out for him to shake.

"Nice to meet you,"

"It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Danes," Nicole said politely.

"It's Luke," he said. They smiled at each other warmly.

After twenty minutes of looking over forms, Nicole had what she needed.

"Well, thank you very much, Luke," she said.

"Yeah, no problem. Uh, listen. Nicole? Would you like to have dinner with me?" he said, all in one breath.

She smiled at him and answered. "I'd love to."

Lorelai stood outside for another twenty minutes before talking herself into entering the diner. Opening the door, she caught the end of Luke's conversation with Nicole.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" she heard him say.

Lorelai gasped.

"I'd love to," Nicole answered, before walking past Lorelai and out of the diner.

_I don't care I don't care I don't care I don't care…_ Lorelai thought to herself. But she couldn't face Luke right now. Turning around, she ran out of the diner, pretending she _really didn't care_.

* * *

Friday morning saw Rory walking with Paris, Finn and Colin to Calculus, having just left the rest of the gang at the lockers. Tomorrow was the marathon. It was all arranged. Logan was going to pick her up at 5:30 AM the next morning so they could get ready to dance. She smiled at the thought of spending 24 hours with him. She was so excited that she completely forgot that she _should_ be disappointed that she wasn't going with Dean. She knew it wasn't good that whenever she was with Logan, all thoughts of Dean flew out of her head. But she couldn't help it!

Meanwhile, Lorelai was making one last desperate attempt to be able to participate in the dance marathon.

"Michele?" she asked, unusually timid and subdued.

"What is it that you want?" Michele said, distracted, doing something on the computer.

"Tomorrow is the Stars Hollow Dance Marathon, and I don't really have a partner. Would you like to go with me?"

"Me?" Michele asked "Why, I'd love to." His rare enthusiasm made Lorelai smile.

"Ok, so can you pick me up at 5:30 tomorrow morning?" Lorelai asked.

"I will be there," Michele asked, cracking a rare smile.

"Great," Lorelai said, smiling back and heading into the kitchen.

* * *

"Ring the doorbell," Lorelai said.

"They're _your_ parents," Rory answered her, folding her arms across her chest.

"They're _your_ grandparents," Lorelai said back, imitating Rory's annoyed voice.

"This is getting ridiculous," Rory said, reaching across Lorelai and ringing the bell.

"Rory, Lorelai! Hello!" Emily said, answering the door for them,

"No maid tonight, Mom?" Lorelai asked, stepping into the house and handing her mom her coat.

"It's her night off," Emily said, taking the girl's coats and leading them into the sitting room, where Richard was busy preparing drinks.

"Gin Martini with a twist, Dad," Lorelai said, sitting down on the couch,

"Club Soda?" Rory said.

"Of course," Richard said.

When the drinks were prepared, the four Gilmore sat around the sitting room making pleasant conversation.

"So, Rory. How is Chilton?" Emily asked, smiling at her granddaughter.

"Really great, I have a 4.0," Rory announced.

"That is wonderful!" Emily exclaimed, giving Rory a warm smile.

"And the Inn, Lorelai?" Richard asked, turning to his daughter.

"The Inn is fine, Dad,"

The rest of drinks and dinner went unusually smoothly, and before either of the Gilmore girls knew it, they were on their way home.

"Wow, no disaster tonight at dinner. It's a miracle," Lorelai said jokingly.

"Oh, you are hilarious," Rory said, rolling her eyes.

"Lets get home and go to bed early, so we can rest ourselves up for tomorrow," Lorelai said. "Kirk is _not _getting my trophy again."

* * *

A/N: The next chapter is the dance marathon!!!! Also my favorite chapter. I already wrote it, but I'm holding it back cuz I'm mean like that! Give me my five reviews! 


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: OMG!!! HERE IT IS!!! THE DANCE MARATHON CHAPTER! I was going to wait until tonight, but i had EIGHT reviews so i felt u guys deserved it. I really hoped that its not too disapointing, cuz everyone seemed excited for this one. Ok, i have a question for all you awesome reviewers: When is Rory's Birthday?? I feel stupid for not remembering. but yeah. OK FIVE REVIEWS EQUALS CHAPTER 7!!!

* * *

Chapter 6: 

"Mmmmh… early, too early," Rory moaned, leaning heavily on Logan as they made their way down the side walk.

Logan put his arm around her waist and hoisted her upright. "You need coffee, that much is obvious," he said, smirking at her.

"Coffee?" Rory said, turning the full force of her cerulean eyes on him.

"I'm sure Luke will bring some for you," he said, laughing at her begging expression.

"Lorelai, stop closing your eyes, you will run in to something and we will not be able to participate," Michele said angrily, taking Lorelai's arm and guiding her around a telephone pole.

"Too sleepy," Lorelai said. "Besides, I know you won't let me run into anything," with that, her eyes closed again, and she leaned against Michele's shoulder pretending to sleep.

"Wow, looks like you guys are in need of some coffee," Jess said, stepping up to the Gilmore girls and their escorts.

"Jess! Coffee!" Rory said, jumping away from Logan and lunging for the thermos that Jess was holding out for her.

At the last second he pulled it back. And Rory frowned, and proceeded to pout as she went back over to Logan. "Meanie," she wined.

Jess laughed. "Here, sleepy," he said, holding out the coffee. She grabbed it from him and took a large gulp. Lorelai had opened her eyes long enough to see that Rory had coffee, and grabbed the container from her daughter, downing the burning hot liquid quickly.

"Yum," Lorelai said, smiling in satisfaction. Rory grabbed it back from her and gulped the rest of it down.

"Delicious," Rory said, handing the now empty thermos to Jess and continuing their walk down the street.

"Lorelai! Rory!" Sookie called out from the end of the street.

"Hey, Sookie! You look great!" Lorelai said, turning around and looking at Sookie's dress.

"So do you guys! Wow, Michele! I love the outfit!" Sookie said, smiling at the French Concierge.

The group continued to walk toward the dance marathon. They were joined by Lane and Zach, who were also going to be dancing. Jackson had already arrived to scope out a good dancing spot for him and Sookie on the floor.

* * *

"Everyone ready?" Taylor called out with his megaphone. "There is only three minutes remaining before the dancing begins! 

Logan and Rory were ready to go, as were Lorelai and Michele. A very grumpy looking Luke was in the corner, handing out coffee to the dancers. Sookie and Jackson stood hand in hand, and Miss Patty was at her usual spot on Taylor's right hand side.

"One minute!" Taylor cried out.

"Ready, Ace?" Logan asked, smiling at her.

"Ready, MAC," she replied. Although rarely used, Logan's special nickname from Rory was MAC- Master and Commander. He laughed and put his arms around her waste as the countdown began.

"Ten… Nine… Eight…" The dancers called out, following Taylor's lead.

"Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One!"

The band started in with loud music, and the entire floor erupted into a flurry of movement.

Lane and Zach danced past Rory and Logan.

"You guys are going down!" Zach yelled as they passed.

"You wish!" Rory yelled back.

Kirk was dancing with his partner of the year. His face was deadly serious as he focused on flipping the tiny girl over, doing a cartwheel.

Lorelai glared. "Kirk, no one here is impressed by your fancy flips! Stop showing off!"

* * *

With only 8 hours remaining, the couples on the floor had thinned out considerably. Jackson and Sookie were out, as were Lane and Zach. Kirk was still in of course, and Michele and Lorelai were still going strong. Rory was leaning heavily on Logan, half asleep. 

"When's the next break?" Rory mumbled into his chest.

"Soon, I hope," Logan said, trying to ignore his heavily beating heart. Having Rory this close to him was putting his mind into over-drive.

"Jess!" Rory called out, seeing him walking their direction.

"Yeah?" he asked as Logan and Rory steered their way over to the edge of the dance floor.

"Can you be the best friend in the world and go get me food from Doose's?" she asked, begging.

"Don't they serve sandwiches and stuff here?" Jess asked, trying to get out of it.

"Mrs. Kim is serving Eggless Egg Salad Sandwiches," she said, giving him a pointed look.

"Enough said, I'll be back," Jess said, heading outside and across the street.

Logan was staring at Rory, his eyes confused.

"What?" She asked him.

"Eggless Egg Salad Sandwiches?" he asked, incredulous.

* * *

Jess opened the door to Doose's Market and froze, shocked. 

Dean was standing against the counter, his arms wrapped around a petite blonde girl. The two were kissing passionately.

"Oh my God," he said.

Dean pulled away from the blonde and locked eyes with Jess.

Jess just shook his head and ran out the door. He was half way across the street when he heard Dean running behind him.

"Wait! Jess, please, wait! Rory never needs to know about this!"

At that, Jess whipped around to face him.

"She doesn't need to know that her boyfriend of the past three months has been cheating on her?" Jess said, furious.

"What? Dean, what's going on?" The blonde said, running up to stand beside Dean.

"Lindsay, don't worry about it, just go back to Doose's,"

"No, Dean, I want to know what's going on," Lindsay said, her eyes begging for an explination.

Jess decided to step in. "Were you aware that Dean has a girlfriend?" he said angrily.

"Yes, me!" Lindsay said, confusion covering her features.

"Ha. Ok, let me rephrase that. Were you aware that Dean had _two _girlfriends?" he said.

Lindsay turned to Dean, shocked. "Excuse me?" she said, her voice emulating anger.

Jess shook his head furiously at Dean, and turned to run back to Rory.

* * *

The horn blared, signaling the ten-minute break, and Rory collapsed, exhausted, on the edge of the dance floor. She stood up immediately when she saw Jess heading toward her, breathless, with an angry look covering his face. 

"Jess? What's going on?" She asked, confused.

Logan walked up, curious as well as to why Jess looked like he had just seen a ghost.

But before Jess could get farther than opening his mouth, Dean barged into the room, followed by Lindsay.

"Rory, don't listen to him," Dean said desperately, trying to shove past Jess to get to her.

"Rory, Dean is cheating on you," Jess said, staring at her, trying to make her believe.

"It's true," Lindsay said, her voice leaking anger and sorrow.

Rory remembered Lindsay briefly from her Stars Hollow Elementary days.

"I'm so, so sorry," Lindsay continued. "If I had known he was already dating someone, I never would have…" she trailed off.

"W-what?" Rory said, still not understanding what was going on.

"Dean is my boyfriend of the past two months," Lindsay said quietly. "Or rather, he _was_ she said, directing her comment and glare towards Dean.

"I don't understand…" Rory said, her eyes tearing up and her step faltering. She leaned against Logan for support.

As Logan looked into her eyes, he saw how broken she looked, and suddenly, he wanted to kill Dean for making her look that way.

"Get out," he said to Dean.

"Excuse me?" Dean said threateningly.

"I think you'd better leave," Logan said, matching Dean's tone.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to second that motion," Jess said, standing at Rory's side.

Despite the circumstances, Rory almost smiled at the two boys standing at her side. No matter what happened to her, she'd have Logan and Jess with her.

"Rory, please. I love you," Dean said, desperately.

"Rory, don't listen to him," Lindsay said through tears. "He told me the same thing.

"Dean, just… just go," Rory said, shaking her head.

Dean looked at her for a few more seconds, and turned around, walking out of the room, and out of Rory's life.

"Ror…" Jess said, looking at her apologetically.

And she couldn't stop the tears. Logan pulled Rory against his chest. For a second, she let herself be comforted by him, but then, angrily, she pushed away.

"Leave me alone," she said, running off.

Logan and Jess stared at each other. "Let me," Logan said. Jess watched as he ran after her.

"Five minutes until the dancing starts up again," a cheerful Taylor announced, oblivious to the drama unfolding right in front of him.

* * *

"Rory! Hey, slow down!" Logan said, finally catching up to her and grabbing her wrist. 

"Let me go!" She said, still angry.

"Hey, why are you mad at _me?_ You're acting like this is _my_ fault or something," he said, keeping his hold on her wrist.

"Well, it is!" she shouted.

"Excuse me?" Logan asked, confused and uncomprehending.

"If I had spent more time with Dean, he wouldn't have found the need to get someone else!"

"And you not spending time with Dean is my fault how?!" Logan shouted. He knew she was upset, but this was getting ridiculous.

"Because! When I spend time with Dean, it always feels like something is missing!" She said, still yelling.

"Oh, I see," Logan said, his voice dripping with heated sarcasm. "And when your with me, you feel more 'complete'?" he said, using air quotes.

"Yes!" she shouted, before she knew what she was saying.

"Fine!" he yelled.

"Fine!" she yelled right back.

And before either of them knew what was happening, he had pulled her to him roughly by the shoulders, and lowered his lips to hers.

Both of them were shocked, but after a few seconds, Rory began kissing him back. As clichéd as she knew it was, she could only describe the feeling she was having as sparks, fireworks, erupting. Her hands slid up his torso and wrapped around his neck. One of Logan's hands went up and tangled in her hair, and the other pressed against her lower back, pulling her even closer. The kiss got more heated, and neither one of them ever wanted to let go. But eventually, air was necessary and they pulled apart. Logan rested his forehead against hers, pulling back only enough so he could see her face. He had dreamed of kissing Rory for a very long time, but he never could have imagined that kissing _anyone_would feel that good.

"Wow," they both said at the same time.

At that moment, the horn blared, signaling to everyone that the break was over.

"Should we…" Logan asked, a little breathless.

"Yeah, lets go," Rory said, letting go over her tight hold of Logan, but keeping one hand securely in his as they walked back to the dance floor.

* * *

Review? Please???????? 


	8. Chapter 7

Authors Note: Ten Reviews gets you Chapter 8. Read!

* * *

Chapter 7:

The morning after the marathon saw Lorelai and Rory sitting in Rory's room. Rory was crying her eyes out, and Lorelai was doing her best to comfort her.

The night before had ended- predictably- with Kirk winning the dance marathon. Logan and Rory had come close, and Lorelai and Michele even closer, only two couples remained after Michele had collapsed. While dancing, Logan and Rory simply stared at each other. Periodically, Logan would lean down and brush his lips against hers, but they had yet to have the inevitable talk. Logan didn't _do_ girlfriends. Rory reminded herself fiercely.

If she was going to be completely honest with herself, she was probably more upset about Logan than Dean. Kissing him last night was the single most amazing experience she had ever had. And if she couldn't experience it again, she didn't know if she would ever be truly happy again.

* * *

Logan was lying in his bedroom, facing the ceiling. Last night, he had kissed Rory Gilmore. Last night, he had just… done it. He couldn't remember ever feeling like that before. He knew that he had never had a girlfriend before simply because he had never found the right girl. But he had no doubt in his mind that Rory was the right girl. Rory was the_ only_ girl. But what if she didn't feel the same way? What if it had just been instinct that had compelled her to kiss him back? What if she didn't want it to happen again? Maybe now that it was out of her system, she would want to go back to being friends.

But Logan knew that after having a glimpse of what his life could be like with Rory, they couldn't go back to being friends.

Sighing, he picked up the phone. It rang a few times, and then it was answered by one of the only three people he could turn to right now.

"Hello?"

"Colin, is Finn with you?"

"Oh, hey Logan. Yeah, he is actually, and Tristan, too," he said, surprised by the panic he heard in Logan's voice.

"Perfect… Uh, could you guys come over?" he said.

"We'll be right there," Colin said without hesitating.

They hung up, and Colin turned to the other two boys sitting on his couch.

"Logan needs us."

* * *

Lorelai was desperately trying to help Rory through whatever was happening. Rory hadn't been able to go into any detail except that she and Dean were broken up. Lorelai suspected there was more to it than that. Finally, after she had done all she could think of, Lorelai decided a girl talk was in order.

"Rory? I'm calling Lane, Paris, Steph, Julie and Rose. We need to talk," she said, leaving no room for argument.

Rory Sighed.

* * *

"Logan?" Tristan called through the door. "Open up, man."

Logan walked to the door and opened it. His three friends walked past him and into his room, sitting on his bed without being invited.

"Talk," Finn said, his face-very rarely- serious.

That was all it took to set Logan off. He recounted the following night, starting with Rory learning about Dean cheating on her, and ending with the kiss, and how it had felt.

When he was done, the three friends sat shocked. After three full minutes of complete silence, Colin spoke up.

"Well, finally!" he shouted.

"What?" Logan said, snapping out of his thoughts and focusing on his friends.

"You and Rory belong together!" Tristan called out, exasperated by Logan's denseness.

"What are you talking about?" Logan said, trying to grasp what his friend was trying to tell him.

"Go tell her! Go set her straight! Come on, man! Time's a wasting!" Finn said, grabbing Logan by the shoulders and shaking him.

That was all Logan needed to hear. He grabbed his coat and headed out the door.

* * *

A knock on the door sent Lorelai catapulting off the couch and to the entrance to the Crap Shack. She pulled open the door to reveal a breathless Lane.

"Hey, Lorelai, I got here as fast as I could," she said, breezing past Lorelai and into the room. She sat by the very distraught looking Rory and put her arms around her.

"Hey, Lane," Rory said, sniffling.

In another twenty minutes, the rest of Rory's friends had arrived.

"What happened, hun?" Juliet said, looking at Rory's distressed appearance.

"Ok, no one interrupt me. If you stop me, I won't be able to start again," Rory said, and she launched into a story of the night before. When she was done recounting the kiss with Logan and everything after that, her friends all sat with her in complete and utter silence. Paris was the first to break it.

"Well, I'm glad the two of you finally got your heads together," Paris said.

"Huh?" Rory said as a way of response.

"Hun, you and Logan belong together, everyone can see it," Lorelai said.

"Mom… what are you talking about?"

"It's true," Stephanie said. "You guys are the same as me and Colin were before we finally got together. Now if you'll excuse me," she said, getting up off of her spot on the floor and pulling out her cell phone.

"Where are you going?" Rory asked.

"I'm calling Colin to see of Logan is on his way over yet," she said in a tone that made it sound like it was supposed to be obvious.

"Ok, everyone clear out!" Paris demanded.

"Yeah, we can't be here when he gets here," Rosemary said. And with that, all of Rory's friends proceeded to get up and march out the door. Lane was the last to leave, and when the door closed behind her, only Rory was left. Even her mom was gone, claiming she had errands to run and she wanted to stop by the inn.

Rory sighed and sat down to wait.

* * *

Logan sat in her drive-way, his heart pounding a mile a minute. _I can do this… _he said to himself. _Come on… get out of the car…_ after talking his way out of the car and up the porch stairs, he hesitated at the door. _Here goes nothing,_ he thought, knocking quietly.

Inside, Rory heard the knock of the door and her pulse sky-rocketed. That was him. Slowly, she got up and walked over to the suddenly threatening front door. She reached her hand out and turned the knob, and there he was. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed, his blond hair more tousled than usual, his normally nice cloths traded in for a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Realizing she was staring, Rory blushed and opened the door wider, inviting him in.

They both sat on the couch, an uncomfortable space between them.

"So… should we just jump right in?" Logan said after a few minutes of tension-filled silence.

"Sure. Um… you first," Rory said.

"Ok… well, let's start with that kiss," he said, smiling slightly. "Pretty fantastic," he said.

"Well I'm glad were on the same page there," Rory said quickly. The last thing she wanted him thinking was that she had any regrets about last night.

"And… ok, listen, I'm just going to get straight to the point, here, Ace. I know I've never been the type to do commitment, but I think that might be just because I was trying to find the right girl, and at the risk of sounding clichéd and cheesy, I think I've found her," he said, quickly, before he could change his mind.

"Really?" Rory said, disbelieving. She had been preparing for the worst-case scenario. She had assumed Logan would come in here and tell her that the kiss was a mistake. She was not prepared for this at all.

"Yes, really. So, what do you think?" Logan said, looking at her worriedly.

Rory hesitated only a second before closing the space between them and kissing him, hard.

Logan smiled against her lips and kissed her back. Everything was going to be just fine.

* * *

Monday morning arrived. Logan had picked her up that morning to take her to school, and he had held her hand the whole ride. She smiled softly to herself. Jess had seen her all gooey-eyed at breakfast that morning, and when she had told him her reason; he had rolled his eyes and responded much like everyone else had.

"It's about time!" He had said to her.

Pulling into the Chilton parking lot, Rory prepared for the onslaught of glares and mean comments that would be coming her way. When she voiced this concern, Logan turned to her and frowned.

"Why are people going to be mad at you?" he asked, confused.

"I just took the must eligible bachelor in all of Hartford- possibly all of Connecticut, off of the market," Rory said, laughing.

"Huh. Never thought about that," he said truthfully.

"Well, it's true. Everyone is going to hate me," she said.

"_I_ don't hate you. And your friends don't hate you. Who cares what everyone else thinks?" he said.

The two walked toward the school, hands grasped firmly together, just as they were about to enter the building, Logan spun Rory around and pressed her against the wall, smiling at her.

"What?" Rory said, laughing at Logan's tactics.

"Hello," he said, leaning down and kissing her.

Every thought going through Rory's head disappeared the moment he pressed his lips to hers. Her hands tangled in his hair as Logan pressed himself against her. They would have continued, if they had not been interrupted by a very amused Finn.

"So, it looks like you two have finally got your act together," he said, smiling.

"Um…" Rory said. She felt her cheeks redden. Logan kept his arms around her.

"Well, now that you two are together, we just have to work on Colin and Steph," Finn said, sighing and shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Logan said.

"They got into a fight," Finn explained. "I mean, honestly. Am I the only person who knows how to be in a decent relationship? The second I knew I had feelings for Rose; I went out and got her. But Stephanie and Colin liked each other for _years_ before getting together, and now they're fighting. And the two of you should have started dating years ago," when his rant was over, Rory spoke up.

"What happened between Col and Steph?" She asked, worriedly.

"Oh, nothing really, he said he would call, he forgot, called an hour later, Steph wasn't home, Colin was mad she wasn't home, Steph was mad because Colin just expected her to wait around for him. But as far as I know, Stephanie only left home to go over to Julie's house so the two of them could have one of those handy girl talks. Apparently she was pretty upset," Finn said sadly.

"That's terrible! I hate it when people fight over practically nothing," Rory said, already making plans to talk to Stephanie.

"Yeah, but don't worry. Those two are stubborn, but they care too much about each other to let one stupid fight ruin everything," Finn said, his voice reasoning.

Logan was distractedly playing with a strand of Rory's hair as he thought. "Have you talked to him?" he asked Finn, referring to Colin.

"Yeah, but I think the wounds were too recent. He didn't want to really talk yet."

"Ok, Ace, you and the girls tackle Stephanie, and me, Finn and Tristan will go talk to Colin. If my sources are correct, they should be back together by the end of the day," Logan said, radiating confidence.

* * *

But lunch time rolled around, and the two were still stubbornly not saying a word to each other.

Rory didn't have any of her morning classes with Logan, so when lunch time rolled around, that meant a full three hours trying to pay attention to droning teachers while her mind could only seem to focus on him and his kisses.

She walked into the lunch room with purpose, and, spotting her boyfriend, rushed over and kissed him. Before Logan could register that she was standing there, she pulled away.

"Hi," she said, smiling.

"Hello. And come back here. I wasn't finished," he said, leaning back down and kissing her again. After several small, chaste kisses, the two walked over to the table where their group was, and sat down together. Logan saw that Stephanie was present at the table, but there was no sign of Colin.

"Tristan, where is he?" he asked to the blonde sitting on his other side.

"Stephanie claims that since she got here first, he has to find somewhere else to sit," Tristan responded, rolling his eyes.

"Huh. More stubborn than I thought," Logan said, frowning slightly.

"Don't worry, we still have plenty of time," Rory said, smiling at him. Logan was once again amazed at how long he had been able to go without leaning down at moments like these and kissing her, which he did now. Rory responded, sighing and kissing him back passionately. They pulled away only when they heard Stephanie let out an exasperated groan.

"Jeez, guys. I'm trying to eat here. You don't have to rub me and Colin's fight in my face," she said, picking up her lunch tray and running off.

Rosemary sighed. "I'll handle this," she said, getting up and following Stephanie out of the room.

* * *

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! 


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Later on in this chapter I'm going to say something about Dave Rygalski- Lane's old boyfriend. Ok here's my version of what happened there: they went out for a while but when he moved to California for his senior year of high school, they decided that they couldn't do long distance so they broke it off. Then, Lane and Zach start dating. Pretty much the same as in the show, but instead of it happening later, I'm making it happen now.

And jeez, guys! I waited FOREVER for one more stinkin' review! And i finally gave in. I know. I'm so cool. But here's the deal. I will hold out on you for as long as necessary before I put up Chapter 9. School is getting busyer and updates are going to get less and less frequent. But the more you review, the faster I write! Read on!

* * *

Chapter 8: 

Tuesday morning came bright and early, and Rory was off to another day of school, another day of fighting best friends, and another day of Logan. She smiled at the thought of the last. Logan noticed her grin and turned to face her in the car, where they were headed in the direction of Chilton.

"Thinking of me, Ace?" he said, egotistically sure of her answer.

"Nope, thinking of my other boyfriend, actually," Rory replied dreamily.

"Ouch, that hurts," Logan said, feigning injury by placing his hand at his heart.

* * *

Meanwhile at the diner, Lorelai was talking with Luke. 

"So, when's your date with pretty blonde lawyer lady?" she asked. She wasn't jealous. Really, she wasn't.

"Her name's Nicole. And wait a minute, how did you even know about that?" he asked her, shocked.

"So you weren't planning on telling me? Keeping her a secret?" Lorelai said, covering up so she didn't have to answer.

"No… I- hey, wait a minute. You never answered my question," he said.

This time, Lorelai was saved from answering by a woman walking through the door of the diner. From the back, she thought it was Nicole. But when Luke looked at her like he had just seen a ghost, she figured it must be someone else.

"Big brother!" she called out, throwing her arms around a very shocked and annoyed Luke.

"Liz? What the Hell are you doing here?" He asked, pushing her away.

"I came to see you! And Jess. Speaking of Jess, where is he?" she asked, looking around as if she expected Jess to be standing somewhere in the diner, serving coffee.

"Um… he's at school," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "Look, Liz, why don't you just head upstairs where we can talk, privately," he said meaningfully. Liz just shrugged and headed for the curtain that separated the stairs and apartment from the rest of the diner.

Lorelai pointed to the woman and mouthed "your sister?"

Luke just nodded, sighed, and followed Liz up the stairs.

* * *

Rory walked into the diner, followed by a whole entourage of Chilton folks. The only person missing was Stephanie, who had declined hastily, saying she had homework to catch up on. Everyone could tell she was avoiding Colin. Rory sighed. The feud going on between the two of them was getting on everyone's nerves. Amazingly enough, not one of the other relationships were affected. Rory had been sure that all the girls would rush to Steph's defense, while all the guys would take Colin's side. But Rory and Logan, Finn and Rosemary, and Tristan and Juliet were all still going strong. 

Logan heard Rory's sigh and grabbed her hand under the table, which they were now all crammed around. Actually, it was two of Luke's largest tables pushed together, but in anticipation of today's crowd, he had made room.

"Rory!" Jess called out frantically, rushing over to the group. "Hide me!"

"Jess? What's wrong?" Rory asked, laughing at her best friend's antics.

"My mother is here," Jess said solemnly. "And if that were it, I could live. But she has a new boyfriend. TJ," he said, visibly wincing at the very mention of the name.

"TJ?" Rory asked, still not quite following.

"Yeah. And you want to know what his real name is? Gary. Gary! How is _TJ_ short for _Gary??_ It makes no sense! This man makes no sense!" he said.

"Ok, ok… You obviously need to calm down. So. Here's what you are going to do. Go to my house, get in. I don't know how, but I know you're capable," she said, rolling her eyes at the fact that it was a simple given that Jess would be able to break into her house. "Grab a book from my room that you haven't read, and go to the bridge," she said.

"God, Rory, you're a life-saver. Thanks," he said. Voices were heard descending the stairs.

"Gotta go," Jess said, making a quick escape.

Rory just laughed at Jess as he ran out the door. Logan stared at her.

"What?" she said, suddenly uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze.

"You amaze me," he said simply, leaning down and kissing her.

Finn and Tristan began fake-gagging, but Colin just looked dejected. The two pulled apart quickly.

* * *

"Rory! Rory Rory Rory Rory Rory Rory Rory Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God!!!" A breathless Lane ran up to her best friend, who was about to enter the diner to see how Jess was coping with his mother and Gary- or TJ, or whatever the heck his name was. She was alone that day. It was Wednesday after school and so far she had spent every moment this week that she could with Logan. Because of this, she may have neglected a few homework assignments that had quickly approaching due-dates. She would have much rather spent time with her boyfriend- she smiled- but she had to get her head out of the clouds and back to the reality of school and homework. 

"RORY!" Lane yelled, completely out of breath, finally skidding to a halt in front of her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Lane was generally a calm person, so for her to be freaking out like this was not normal.

"Dave… Dave… is _back_, Dave is back and now I'm with Zach!" Lane said. "Oh My God! Now I'm rhyming! Rory help me!"

"Dave Rygalski? He's back? I thought he moved to California," Rory said, thoroughly confused.

"He DID!! That's my point! But he's back! And I'm with Zach! Agh! More rhyming!" Lane shouted, hitting her head against the window at Luke's diner. Jess's head shot up and he shot a quizzical look at Rory. She responded with a shrug.

* * *

Lane stepped tentatively up to the front door. She was afraid to knock. This was silly. Her boyfriend lived behind that door, and her other band mate, Brian. But _he_ could also be behind the door, and if he wasn't, her and Zach would have to talk. Lane's break-up with Dave hadn't offered either of them any closure. It had been over the phone, and Lane had started dating Zach only a week later. What if she saw Dave and all her old feelings for him rushed back? No, that wouldn't happen, she told herself. She loved Zach. Wait, she loved Zach? Oh my God, she loved Zach. Could things get any more confusing? 

She knocked on the door, berating herself for being so scared.

Zach answered. "Lane, Dave is back," he said, wild-eyed.

"Yeah, I know," Lane said, slightly hysteric. "I ran into him, we talked. He said he missed me, and I just… I don't know, I just bolted. He doesn't know we're together."

"Um… actually…" Zach said apologetically. He gestured inside and Lane walked into the living room to find a very embarrassed Dave sitting on the couch next to an equally uncomfortable Brian.

"He-hello," Lane said nervously, preparing for the single most humiliating and embarrassing conversation she would ever have to experience.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the diner, Rory and Jess sat at the table, eating a plate of fries and talking. Their conversation had started with Jess's annoyance at his mother's unexpected visit, but had quickly turned into a heated Hemmingway vs. Rand argument. 

"Jeez! Just give Hemmingway a chance! You only hate him because you decided _before_ you read anything of his that you weren't going to like it!"

"Not true, mister. I gave Hemmingway ten chances. Twenty chances! His books are actually _painful_ to me to read."

Jess had opened his mouth to form another pro Hemmingway argument for their instinctive debate, but he was cut off.

"Jessie! There you are, I've been looking everywhere," a voice said. Liz walked up to the table.

"Oh, God," Jess mumbled, to himself and Rory.

"Oh, Jess, who's your friend?" Liz said, smiling kindly and Rory.

"Liz, this is Rory, Rory, this is my mom Liz," Jess said, making sloppy introductions by waving his hands around in the general directions of the two parties involved.

"Nice to meet you," Rory said, smiling up at the bubbly blond.

"TJ isn't here right now, but I'm sure he'd like to meet you too," Liz said kindly. "Well Jess, I'm really sorry, but I promised I would meet TJ for a late lunch. He's trying to be romantic," Liz said, giggling like a school girl and practically skipping out the door before either of the teens could form a response.

* * *

Thursday morning, Rory and Logan were standing in front of their lockers before their first class, when a very excited Rosemary came up to them. 

"Last night was the most amazing night of my life!!!" Rose said to Rory.

"Uh, Ace, I think Finn is going to break his arm soon if I don't go over there," he said, nodding his head toward Finn, who was standing at the end of the hallway with Colin and Tristan, waving frantically at him with his arm.

"Yeah, and I think whatever Rosie here is going to tell me should probably be done without you around, am I right?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, probably," she said.

"Ok, Logan, I'm going over to your place after school, right?" Rory said.

"Yeah, my parents wont be there, so the coast is clear," he said, leaning down and kissing her gently before walking down the hall to where Finn was still trying desperately to get his attention.

"Ok, what happened, Rose?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, what's going on with you and Finn?" Stephanie asked, coming up to the two of them, followed closely by Juliet and Paris.

"He told me he loved me!" She said.

Juliet squealed and hugged her. Rory and Steph both joined the hug and Paris actually cracked a smile.

* * *

"Rory!" Logan called after the school day was over. 

"Logan!" she shouted, running up to him.

"They said I love you!" They said at the same time, and then burst out laughing.

* * *

Luke was nervous. More nervous than he had ever been. He was taking out a very attractive, very nice girl tonight. Jess walked up into the apartment and saw Luke, his hair a mess, shirtless, pacing around the apartment and throwing things in every which way. 

"Taking out that Nicole chick tonight?" Jess asked, smirking.

"Yes, now help me find my black shirt," he said desperately scanning the apartment.

"You mean the one in your hands?" Jess said, laughing at his uncle's cluelessness.

"Uh… yeah," Luke said, embarrassed.

"Ok, listened, Lucas, I'll just be downstairs, and I'll let you get ready. I'll let Nicole in when she gets here, and I won't be rude, I promise. Now take a minute and _breath_," he said, smirking again and backing out of the apartment.

* * *

They had given up on doing their homework and were just watching some TV until Rory had to go home. 

Logan was playing with her hair and kissing her temple every few minutes. Rory smiled and reached up, putting her arms around her neck and kissing him hard on the lips. He responded eagerly, and before either of them knew it they were in full make-out mode. They could have continued forever, but they were interrupted by Rory's cell, ringing loudly on the bed-side table.

"Ignore it," Logan groaned.

"I can't, it could be important," she said, giving Logan one last kiss and sliding away from him. She felt cold instantly as the space between them grew.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, hun. Are you on your way back?" Lorelai said.

"Um… Mom, what's wrong?" Rory asked, instantly concerned. She could tell from her mother's tone that something was off.

"Nothing! Well, nothing much, I just need someone to talk to right now," she said.

"Ok, well I'm just heading out," she said, gathering up her stuff and saying goodbye to her mom.

Logan sighed and pulled her back down on the mattress, kissing her deeply and then stood with her, walking with her to the hallway.

"See you tomorrow," he said, giving her one last kiss and letting her go.


	10. Chapter 9

Author's Note: I feel like I'm losing some readers! I need ten reviews before I'm going to post Chapter ten! Sorry about the terrible job I've been doing with updating...

* * *

Chapter 9:

"TJ, really. It's Jess. Not Read. I really don't appreciate you calling me that," Jess said, his temper reaching astronomical heights.

"But you've always got your nose in your books, it's only fittin' to call you that," TJ explained. At that, Jess stood up to scream at him, but Rory, who was sitting at a table near by in the diner, stood up next to him.

"Hey, Jess? Aren't you going to be late to school if you don't get going soon?" Rory said pointedly.

"Yes, yes, that's right," Jess said. This wasn't true, Jess wouldn't have to leave the diner for another 40 minutes to make it to school. "Bye TJ, bye Rory," he said, giving her a grateful smile and all but running out the door.

* * *

Rory and Logan were on their way to their lockers when they heard screaming from the end of the hall. Peering around the corner, they saw Colin and Stephanie arguing, and decided to stay back and let things play out.

"Colin! You didn't call! And then you get mad at _me_, because I didn't just stay around on a Saturday night waiting for you!"

"Steph, I get that, but I said I was sorry like ten times for not calling! And actually, you know what? I _did_ call! It was just an hour later!"

"Ugh!!! An hour! An _hour_, Colin! And that hurts, because I thought you cared!"

"God, Steph, of course I care! I love you!"

"Fine! I love you too!" She shouted back. Then they both froze.

After about thirty seconds of silence, Stephanie was pressed against the locker and the two were French-kissing.

Logan and Rory just smiled at each other and rolled their eyes.

* * *

Lorelai sighed deeply. Luke was very happy today. Last night was his date with Nicole. When Rory had gotten home from Logan's house, the two discussed the possibility that she _might_ have feelings for Luke. She groaned in frustration. She couldn't be with Luke! Luke had Nicole.

"Hey, Mom," Rory said, walking into the diner and plopping herself down on one of the chairs.

"Hey, sweets. How was school?" Lorelai asked her.

"Amazing! Colin and Steph finally made up! And they said 'I love you!'" she said, very excitedly.

"Who?" Jess said, coming up to their table.

"Col and Steph," she said, grinning like mad.

"So they made up? Finally," Jess said. "I was getting tired of you talking about that,"

"Hey," Rory said, hitting him playfully on the arm.

* * *

"Rory! Good news!" Lane said when Rory answered the phone.

"What?" Rory said into her cell.

"I have spent a full three hours with Dave and Zach, and I can confidently say that I have no feelings for Dave. Zach and I are still together, and everything's fine. Last night, me and Zach went out to dinner and he told me he loved me, and I said it back, and now I feel like I'm seriously floating," She gushed. Then her tone turned serious. "But remember, don't say anything to mama Kim. She doesn't even know I'm dating Zach."

"Wow! Today is just getting better and better! Colin and Stephanie made up and now you've worked things out with Zach and Dave!" Rory said, excited that everything had fallen together. "And of course I won't say anything to your mom. What do you take me for? Some kind of an idiot?"

* * *

"I can feel it," Lorelai said ominously. "Tonight, something bad is going to happen."

"Mom, I swear. Ring the doorbell," Rory said, rolling her eyes.

"They're _your_ grandparents!" Lorelai said.

"Ugh, not this again," Rory said, sighing and ringing the doorbell.

"Rory, Lorelai!" Emily said. "Come on in!"

Lorelai grumbled incoherently as she stepped into the room.

"What was that?" Emily asked, pointedly staring at her daughter.

"Nothing, Mom. Nothing," Lorelai said, smiling a little too sweetly.

Drinks were served, and the usual pleasantries ensued. But this would not be as successful and smooth as their last week's dinner. As they sat down for dinner, Emily broached the subject that had obviously been on her mind since they had arrived.

"So, Lorelai, Rory. Any new men in your lives?" she said.

_Uh, oh_. Rory thought. How did she know?

"No, Mom, still single. Thanks for asking. Wow, these potatoes are great!" Lorelai said, trying to save her daughter. Her attempts were futile. Emily plowed right on as if Lorelai had never spoken.

"Rory? What about you?" she said, her tone sugary sweet and full of superior knowledge.

"Um… well, actually, Grandma, Grandpa, I have some news…" Rory started, slightly nervous. "I broke up with Dean, and now I'm dating Logan. You remember him, right?"

"Well, actually Rory, I already knew. I was talking to Shira Huntzberger this morning and she mentioned something," Emily said. Rory noticed that her grandfather had been strangely quiet. She glanced over at him and saw that he was grinning like mad. Rory realized- a bit angrily- that it was because he had never liked Dean. But then, she thought of what Dean had done to her, and she knew it wasn't her grandfather she was mad at.

"Rory?" she was brought out of her thoughts by her grandmother. "So, will you go?"

"Huh? I'm sorry Grandma; I missed what it was that you said."

"I said," Emily began, a little frustrated, "That the Huntzbergers would like to have you over for dinner tomorrow night so they can meet you, and I am supposed pass on the invitation."

"Oh, well…. Umm… sure, I mean, if Logan isn't doing anything," Rory said stammering. She had met the Huntzbergers several times before, but the meetings had been brief and cold. She had gotten the impression that they didn't like her, and she _knew_ that they wouldn't like her now that she was dating their precious son.

But with Logan at her side, she knew she could face it.

* * *

He came over early Saturday morning, planning on spending the whole day together and then going over to the dreaded dinner together. They were currently sitting in Luke's diner. Rory was undecided about what to order. For the first time since she was a very little kid, she actually picked up the menu and looked through it. Jess walked over and stared at her like she had three heads.

"What?" Rory said, a bit defensively. "I'm just finishing up deciding.

"Let me help," Jess said sarcastically. "Cheese burger with onion rings and coffee?" he said.

"Wow, how did you do that?" Rory said, amazed.

"Oh, come on. You come in here every once in a while and you can't decide what to eat. Then I _always_ suggest Cheese burger and onion rings, and you _always_ say it sounds great," Jess said, rolling his eyes. Rory was his best friend, but he would never get used to her unusual quirks.

* * *

Pulling up in front of the huge mansion that is the Huntzberger home, Logan leaned forward and kissed Rory lightly.

"I'm just saying sorry in advance, Ace, because my parents can be brutal," he said.

"Hey, I can handle it, don't worry. I've met them before, remember?" Rory answered, smiling and kissing him deeper.

"Mmm," Logan mumbled against her lips. Then he reluctantly pulled away. "As much as I don't want to stop, I'm just picturing one of my parents walking out here and seeing this, and that would not be good, trust me."

Rory sighed. "Ok, let's get this over with," she said.

"Our only saving grace is that Honor is coming too, and she's bringing Josh," Logan said as he walked around the car and opened Rory's door for her.

"Yes! I haven't seen Honor in forever!" Rory said excitedly. She really enjoyed spending time with the bubbly blonde that was Logan's sister.

"She doesn't know we're together yet, but she'll be excited," Logan said, rolling his eyes. "She's always teasing me about having a crush on you. It got a bit annoying, actually." Logan rang the doorbell.

"But she was right, wasn't she?" Rory said cockily.

"Yup. She was definitely right," he said, leaning down and kissing her softly.

At that moment the door was opened by Honor Huntzberger.

"Oh my God!" she shouted. "Finally!" she shouted, startling the two of them apart. "Hey, guys, I'm thrilled, and Rory, I want all the girlie details later, but right now, it's time for us all to enter through Hell's gates. You two are late, and the parents are pissed."

With that, they all walked in the front door, and it closed, somewhat ominously, behind them.


	11. Chapter 10

Author's Note: You know the drill. Ten reviews for the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 10: 

"Well Rory! Hello there!" Shira said as they entered the room. Her voice was coated with at least three extra layers of sugar, but Rory still detected the venom in it. Logan must have sensed her distress, because he squeezed her hand harder.

Mitchum greeted the two of them and Josh and Rory were introduced. Everyone sat in a highly uncomfortable silence for a full three minutes, sipping their drinks. Finally, Elias spoke for he first time.

"So. The two of you are dating now," he said, straight forward and somewhat angrily.

Logan opened his mouth to respond, but his grandfather continued. "Logan, Miss Gilmore here is a lovely girl. You shouldn't be toying with her emotions like this. Besides, we can set you up with someone more suitable."

"Unbelievable," Logan muttered, pulling Rory closers and apologizing as profusely as he could with his eyes.

"If you were ready to have a more permanent girlfriend, all you had to do was ask us, dear," Shira said, trying to be nice and understanding.

Logan stood up. "Guys, I'm with Rory. Not because I think she will be good for the family, or good for my pre-destined future."

"Well then, why?" Mitchum asked. He looked genuinely confused.

"Oh my God! You're actually seriously asking me that? I love spending time with her! It… it's not something that you can describe, especially not to your parents," Logan said, exasperated. "Listen, here are your options. You drop the topic now and we will stay and have a pleasant evening. Or, you say another word about Rory and I going out and we walk out that door right now."

"Logan, dear. You live here," Shira said.

"I'll find somewhere else to stay, then," he said, rolling his eyes. "Don't think that Finn, Colin, or Tristan would hesitate to take me in."

"Fine. Consider it dropped," Elias said gruffly.

The rest of the night was filled with awkward pauses and the clinking of forks against plates.

* * *

Walking out of the Huntzberger residence, the two teens were in a shocked silence.

"I- I'm so sorry, Ace. I had no idea they would-" Logan started to apologize, but was cut off by Rory's hand over his mouth.

"You didn't do anything wrong," she said. "Thanks for yelling at them."

"Ha. My pleasure, believe me," Logan said, smiling and kissing her softly.

Rory sighed and kissed him back. The two stayed like that for an immeasurable moment and then broke apart, somewhat reluctantly.

"We should get going," Logan said.

"Yeah, my mom will get worried," Rory said, her voice very unconvincing.

"Let's go," he said, sighing and opening the door to the car.

* * *

Meanwhile back at Luke's, Lorelai and Luke were having a screaming match.

"I can't believe you!" Lorelai said angrily.

"What? What did I do?" Luke said, getting defensive.

"You _moved_ and you didn't bother to tell me?" Lorelai said. She was disgusted with herself for feeling tears building up in the back of her eyes.

"Nothing's changed!" Luke said. "I'm still here to serve your coffee and other life-shortening foods!"

"God! You are such an idiot!" Lorelai screamed at him. "Do you really think that's why I'm mad?! You can move if you want to, I mean, it's not like I like it, but I can't stop you-" she was cut off by Luke.

"Well then what the Hell is your problem?"

"Why didn't you tell me! I thought we were friends!"

"We _are_ friends, Lorelai!" Luke said.

"Luke, if we were really friends you would tell me important things going on in your life, such as the fact that you have moved in with your girlfriend who you have only been dating for a little over a month!" Lorelai said, grabbing her purse and storming out the door, desperately trying to hide the tears that were now streaming down her face freely.

* * *

Logan had pulled up in front of Rory's house and she had leaned over to give him a short, sweet kiss good night. However, when she tried to pull away, he grabbed her waist and pulled her against him, deepening the kiss. A heavy make-out session ensued, and a full half an hour later, the two reluctantly pulled apart and pressed their foreheads together, gasping wildly for breath.

"I- should go in now," Rory said meekly.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Logan said, still trying to calm his breathing.

"Yeah. Goodnight," she said, giving him a chaste kiss and pulling back before either of them could deepen it.

Logan watched her leave. The door to her house was already closed when he managed a weak "Goodnight, Ace."

* * *

On Sunday morning, a very happy Lane hugged her ex-boyfriend goodbye and promised that she would stay in touch. The three days he had stayed with Zach and Brian had started off as awkward but ended up being ok. Lane was still happy with Zach, and now things had been smoothed over with Dave.

The same could not be said for Lorelai Gilmore, who was currently sitting on the couch, pouring out her confused feelings to her daughter.

"I just don't know any more. I mean, why didn't he tell me? Why would he move in with her? He barely knows her!" she cried out, immensely frustrated and immensely upset.

"Mom, listen. I'm meeting the Chilton gang in twenty minutes at Luke's. I wanted to go now so I could give Jess a book he wanted to read. It will also give you a chance to make up with Luke," Rory said, tugging on her mother's hands in a vain attempt to get her off the couch.

"No! Are you crazy! I can't talk to him ever again! He hates me now!"

"Mom, Luke does not hate you. He couldn't hate you. Now, this is ridiculous. Come on," Rory said.

After five minutes of persuasion, the two Gilmore's were on their way to Luke's Diner.

"Jess, I have it!" Rory shouted, running over to him and handing him the book.

"Finally! You said you would bring this in a week ago," Jess said, reading the back.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, you have it now," Rory said, rolling her eyes at him and going up to a table. At that moment Paris walked in the door. Rory walked over to her and the two began chatting while waiting for everyone else to arrive.

"L-Luke?" Lorelai stuttered, walking up to the counter.

"Coffee?" Luke asked, not even making eye contact with her.

"No, Luke… I wanted to apologize," Lorelai said, whispering.

He looked up.

"I was such a jerk, Luke. I'm sorry. I was so busy thinking about myself that I didn't even say congratulations," Lorelai was generally a very proud person, so this humiliating apology was immensely difficult for her.

"It's ok," Luke said, his gaze softening as he stared at the genuinely upset woman in front of her. "I should have told you. I don't know why I didn't." he said. But this was a lie. Luke had waited for Lorelai Gilmore for so many years, he had almost taken it for granted that he would always want her. It made no sense, but he felt almost guilty for not waiting around forever. He shouldn't feel guilty that he had found someone who actually wanted to be with him, but Lorelai had always done strange things to his mind.

"Good. I hate fights," Lorelai said, smiling. "I'll take that coffee now."

Luke rolled his eyes and handed her the mug.

* * *

"Ace," Logan said as a way of greeting before sweeping her into a sweet, lingering kiss.

"You know, Huntz, some of us are trying to eat here," Finn said disgustedly. The Chilton gang had been slowly trickling in to the diner for the past fifteen minutes. Logan had just shown up, and Colin and Stephanie were the only two they were waiting for.

The plan was to eat and then go back to Rory's house for the ultimate all-day-long movie marathon. Jess had been invited but had politely declined, saying he had homework. Rory saw through that. Jess had never really become close with Rory's Chilton friends, and she knew he would feel uncomfortable hanging out with them all day. Lorelai wasn't going to be there either, so it would be strictly Chilton goers.

* * *

Empty pop bottles, chip bags, pizza boxes and Chinese take-out containers were spread out haphazardly around the room. Paris sat on a chair, Colin, Stephanie, Finn and Rosemary had somehow managed to all squeeze onto the love-seat, and Tristan and Juliet were sitting up against the foot rest. That left Rory and Logan up against the couch. All of them were drifting off. They had spent the entire day watching movies, some of which included Footloose and Willy Wonka. It was currently 10pm, and all of them were surprised about how much simply sitting around all day could wear you out. Rory felt Logan kiss her temple and she smiled softly.

"G'night, Logan," she whispered.

"'Night, Ace."

Rory smiled. Everything was perfect.


	12. Chapter 11

Author's Note: This chapter is early, but I finished it and I really wanted to put it up. So here it is! I actually need ten reviews before chapter 12 goes up, and when you read this, you'll want the next chapter asap! I was kind of mean, with a cliffhanger! 

* * *

Chapter 11:

SKIP TO DECEMBER

The weeks went by quickly for Rory. She was caught up in a whirlwind of activities. School was getting harder; the stress of going to college the very next year was taking its toll. But despite her stress, Rory was happy. She had all the friends she could ever want, and she had Logan. Everything with him was perfect, but not boring like things were with Dean. They never fought, but they had heated debates over seemingly nothing important. He was constantly surprising her with a fancy dinner for no reason, or a random appearance at her door with a bouquet of flowers. She knew she was being spoiled, but she loved it, all the same.

Lorelai and Luke maintained their friends status. She continued to convince herself that this is what she wanted. Things at the inn were going by smoothly, with surprisingly minimal problems with Michel and Sookie. Sookie had recently discovered that she was pregnant, and due in May. Everything seemed to be going perfect. 

If only it could've stayed that way.

* * *

It was Saturday night, and Logan was dropping Rory off after their date. 

"Night, Ace. I won't see you tomorrow because my father wants me to shadow him at work, but I'll pick you up for school on Monday. 

"Ok. Have fun tomorrow," she said.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated," Logan said, leaning down and giving her a soft kiss.

"See ya Monday," Rory said, smiling and stepping out of the car.

* * *

Rory had a busy Sunday ahead of her. She woke up and headed to Weston's, where she was eating breakfast with the Chilton girls. Lately she hadn't had any quality girl time, so it was nice to hang out with Stephanie, Juliet, Rosemary, and Paris without the guys for once. 

When she arrived, Paris, Stephanie, and Juliet were already sitting down.

"Hey, guys!" she said, pulling up a chair.

"Hey, Rory," Steph responded. "Rose called, she's on her way."

"K," Rory said, pulling out a menu and glancing at it briefly.

Rosemary soon arrived and breakfast passed by quickly. When they were done, Rory rushed home to try to make some head-way on her rapidly growing pile of homework. At 1:00, she met Jess for lunch and the two went book shopping for what was supposed to be just an hour, but somehow became four. By the time she got home, it was 5:30, and she was starving. She met her mom for dinner at Luke's. When they arrived, Liz and TJ ran up to them, Jess trailing behind, shaking his head furiously back and forth and waving his arms around wildly,

"Lorelai, Rory! Good! I was hoping to run into you. Last night, TJ proposed!" Liz said excitedly.

"Wow!" Lorelai said, getting up to hug her.

"Yeah, I know! Wow! And listen, I was wondering if the two of you would like to be bridesmaids?" Liz said, for once unsure of her self.

"Of course!" Rory responded, also giving Liz a hug. 

"We'd love to, Liz!" Lorelai said, grinning from ear to ear. Rory looked behind the newly engaged blonde and rolled her eyes. Jess was sitting at a stool, making a big show of banging his head against the counter.

When dinner was over, Lorelai and Rory went home and watched a movie before drifting off.

* * *

Logan pulled up in front of the Gilmore's house and waited patiently for Rory to arrive. He had something he really needed to tell her, but he wasn't sure how to start.

"Hey, sorry I couldn't find my shoe," Rory said, smiling. She slid into the passenger seat and gave Logan a small peck on the lips. 

"Hey," Logan said shortly.

Rory immediately knew something wasn't right. 

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Logan attempted a weak smile. "Um… how about I come over after school and I'll tell you."

"Is it something your dad did?" Rory said, remembering the way Logan had spent his Sunday.

"Um… yeah, I'll tell you all about it tonight, I just really don't want to talk about it yet," he said.

Rory was shocked. His expression was falsely nonchalant, but she could see pain and regret etched into every feature. She reluctantly respected his wishes and didn't broach the subject for the rest of the school day. 

* * *

The school day was fairly boring; only one exciting event took place. Juliet had informed Rory that the previous night, Tristan had said that he loved her. She was very happy about his declaration. Rory was happy for her friend, but she suddenly realized that she and Logan were now the only couple that hadn't made this step. Did she love him? She didn't know, exactly. She did know that when she had told Dean that she loved him, something had felt wrong. She didn't want things to be weird between her and Logan. It had never even crossed her mind that any moment with him could be awkward, but all through the day, their time together was dripping with a tension, and a sense of foreboding about what lay ahead for the two of them.

The moment they arrived at Rory's house and had settled themselves on the couch, Rory started.

"What's going on?" she asked. Logan stared straight ahead, not moving. He gave no sign he had even heard her speak. "Logan? Come on, you're scaring me," Rory said. She was scared of this silence that filled the room thickly. All sorts of things ran through her head, but one thought stood out against the others: Was he about to break up with her?

Logan sighed deeply. 

"I-" he started, and then he closed his eyes and breathed in and out a few times before bringing his gaze up to Rory's. "I'm moving."

Rory stared at him in shock. Whatever she had been suspecting, it definitely wasn't this. 

"Moving?" she said. "Moving- where? When? Why?" she asked, trying to form a longer sentence but failing miserably.

"Seattle. This Friday. And I have no freaking idea why," Logan said, his breathing getting shallower as he struggled to stop himself from tearing up.

"Wait- you are moving- this Friday- to _Seattle?_ As in, Washington State, all the way across the country?" Rory screeched, her voice sliding up two octaves.

Logan could only manage a nod.

"But- I mean- how- how could Mitchum do this to you?"

"It was just as much my mother's idea as it was my dad's. They claim that they want me to spend my last semester of high school in a different environment. They think that maybe if I get away from Colin and Finn, I'll become more serious about my school work."

"But what they mean is: maybe if they take you away from me, they can still set you up with Bambi McBimbo and marry you off into a respectable family," Rory said, hatred for Logan's family bubbling up inside of her.

"Yup," Logan said, simply.

Rory just stared at him for a few seconds and she suddenly became aware that there were tears streaming freely down her cheeks. Logan scooted over on the couch so he was right next to her, brushing the tears away with his thumbs and kissing her lightly.

"Ace, I.." Logan trailed off, sighing and kissing her again. Something was different about this kiss. It was full of passion, but it seemed to be desperate, and almost bitter-sweet in the sense that they were both hyper-aware that come Friday, they didn't know when they'd have this chance again.

* * *

The rest of the week was spent in a sort of trance-like state of shock. Both of them spent every second that they possibly good together, but they held off on the inevitable discussion until the last possible second. When school ended on Friday, Rory went with Logan to his house so he could make sure he had everything packed. She decided she wasn't going to go to the airport, but rather get a taxi to drive her home straight from Logan's. Both had been doing a lot of thinking, but Rory's conclusion would be the one to destroy everything they had worked so hard to build.

* * *

Friday afternoon saw Lorelai Gilmore walking into Luke's diner alone. Rory wouldn't be home until later, due to the fact that she was with Logan, saying goodbye to Logan before he left for Seattle. She walked through the door and froze. Luke was walking around, ten times more grumpy that usual. He slammed stuff down on the tables, barked at customers, and stomped around loudly.

"Here," he said gruffly, forcefully setting down a cup of coffee and a muffin on the counter for Lorelai before she even opened her mouth.

"Uh…" Lorelai said. "Luke? Wanna tell me what's going on?" she said, slightly hesitant. 

"What? Nothing's going on," Luke said, very unconvincingly.

"Ha. Nice try. What is it?" Lorelai said.

"Nicole…" he started. "She was cheating on me."

Lorelai was shocked into silence.

"I- I had a bunch of really early deliveries this week, so I had been staying upstairs, and then last night I was going to stay here again, but the delivery was cancelled, so I went back to our place, and there's this other car parked in the driveway- and I go inside and up to our room and walk in on them- uh, you know.." Luke trailed off. He was talking a lot, uncharacteristically.

"Oh, Luke… I'm so, so sorry," Lorelai didn't know what to do in this situation. She wanted to help, but she didn't know what to do.

* * *

Rory and Logan piled the last of the stuff into the back of the limo that would be taking Logan to the airport.

"We'll- we'll write, a-and talk on the phone. I'll call you the second I get in. We can make this work," Logan said, pain evident in his gaze.

Rory took a deep breath and averted her eyes. She couldn't look into his pools of chocolate brown by speaking the next words. "I'm sorry Logan, I can't."

* * *

She had cried the entire way home from Logan's. The taxi driver drove the entire way with creased eye brows, but decided it was best not to pry in the young lady's life. Rory replayed the conversation with Logan in her head again, torturing herself with the memory of his shocked and hurt expression. But she deserved it. She was a terrible person.

"I'm sorry, Logan. I can't."

"What do you mean?" Logan asked, his eyes widening.

"Long distance. It isn't going to work for me. It's best if we just… end this now," Rory said, choking down sobs.

"Rory- no, you can't be serious," Logan had said, putting his hands on her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "I won't let you do this."

"Logan, if we let this go on, it's going to end badly," she had said.

"It's only one semester, and then maybe I can talk my dad into-" he was cut off.

"Yeah, maybe. That's what our entire relationship would be. Maybes. _Maybe _I can visit next week. _Maybe_ I'll talk to you later. _Maybe_ you'll come home after high school. For all we know, your dad could ship you off to some foreign country for college, and we'll never see each other again!" Rory said, all her fears spilling out at once.

"Rory, please," Logan said, growing desperate.

"It would hurt too much," Rory said, whispering.

"And what about this? This isn't hurting you? Because it's killing me," Logan said, his voice cracking.

"I-I'm sorry, I have to go," Rory said, stepping away and running out to the street. She pulled out her cell and dialed a cab company.

Logan stared after her, still in a state of shock.

"You ready, son?" his father's hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his trance. He pulled away angrily and got into the limo. This was all his dad's fault, after all.

* * *

Lorelai had stayed with Luke for awhile at the diner. Business had slowed down and the two had stayed together for almost and hour. Lorelai didn't talk much, she just listened and tried her best to comfort the man who was obviously very upset. He was shockingly more mad at himself than at Nicole.

"What was I thinking? I had only been seeing her a month, and then I move in with her? I shouldn't have done that."

"Luke…" Lorelai struggled for words. "I don't know what to say to make this better. I wish I could help you." she was feeling the strain of today on her shoulders. If only she knew what she had coming. 

* * *

Rory had asked the cab driver to drop her at the edge of town. The walk back to her house was a good half hour from that point, and although she usually didn't like exercise, she really needed to clear her head to keep herself from thinking about the terrible day she had just had. But that proved impossible, and she found herself thinking about Logan and all the times the two had had together, starting before they were together, and ending with the more recent, painful memories. This was the right thing to do. She tried to convince herself that ending her relationship with him was really for the best. It had been a little over three amazing months, but it couldn't go on if he wasn't going to be around. But if this was the right way to go, why did it hurt so badly? At least it was winter break now, so she had a whole two weeks to wallow before having to head back to school.

"Rory?" a voice called from somewhere behind her. She really didn't want to talk, but she knew it would be rude to ignore whoever it was calling for her. She turned around and came face to face with Dean Forrester.

"Rory, I'm so glad I found you," he said, smiling. Rory glared.

"What do you want, Dean?" she was in no mood to handle her cheating ex-boyfriend.

"I really need to show you something. And I really want to talk," he said, his eyes pleading with her.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I'm kind of busy at the moment," she said, pushing past him and continuing her walk home.

"Please, it will only take a second," he said, catching up to her and keeping pace. Rory sighed. Dean could be persistent, and she knew he wouldn't give up until he got what he wanted.

"Fine," she said, grumpily. 

"Great, come with me," he said, pulling roughly on her arm and dragging her to his car, which was parked in the parking lot outside of Doose's.

"Dean? Where are we going?" she asked, confused.

"It's too far to walk," he said, opening the door to his rusty truck and stuffing her in, shutting it quickly.

He walked around to the other side and got in, pulling out of the driveway quickly, and driving off, away from the center of town. 

Something wasn't right, Rory realized. Something was wrong with him. She couldn't quite place it. It came to her just as they were exiting Stars Hollow and turning on a dirt side-road. His eyes were bleary and he swerved as he drove along. He had been drinking. Suddenly, she was very afraid.

"Dean, pull over, let me out," she said, loudly. 

"No, I can't let you go," Dean said, his voice desperate.

"Dean, you shouldn't be driving. What were you thinking?" Rory said, freaking out and pulling out her cell phone. She didn't know who to call though.

She turned to face him, and saw that he was staring at her intently, not at all focused on the road.

"Look out!" she called, turning back to the front of the car just in time to see the small ditch and huge tree they were careening toward.

Then everything went black.

* * *

�A/N: Mwahahahaha I know I'm mean. Ten reviews!


	13. Chapter 12

Author's Note: The long awaited chapter has arrived! Sorry for the wait, I was so incredibly busy with this musical I was heping out with that I barely had time to breath. You know the drill by now... But I'm mixing it up a bit. I'd like fifteen reviews, not ten. Up to the challenge? Read on, and Review please!!

* * *

Chapter 12:

Logan was sitting on a bench at the airport, staring at his feet. Had that just really happened? Had Rory just broken up with him? He was willing to fight for their relationship. Why wasn't she? Had he done something wrong? He loved her, and she was just ending things at the first sign of trouble. Wait- love? No, Logan Huntzberger didn't fall in love. But then again, Logan Huntzberger didn't do relationships, either. Did he love Rory? But he didn't need to think about that one at all. Yes, he did. He loved her, and she had just shot him down. He should hate her. But that was impossible, because even though he didn't agree with her, he knew her Gilmore Girl logic was telling her that it was best to break up with him.

He sighed loudly, and heard his cell phone beginning to ring.

* * *

Lorelai was frantic. Rory should have been home two hours ago. Where was she? What was going on? She had called Jess and Lane first, in hopes that she had stopped by one of their houses on her way home and lost track of time.

She had thought about calling Logan, but she knew of Rory's plans to end her relationship with him. She wasn't sure she approved of this, because she could see how good the two of them were together. She had then called Stephanie, Rosemary, Juliet, and Paris, who all reported no sightings of Rory since school. Her worried tone made all of Rory's friends concerned too, and they proceeded to call their boyfriends, who had also not seen Rory since school. Lorelai grew desperate and called her parents, but they hadn't seen or heard from their precious granddaughter either. She finally gave in and dialed the number of one Logan Huntzberger.

* * *

"Hello?" Logan said, not bothering to check the caller-ID.

"Logan? It's Lorelai. Have you seen Rory?" she said.

Her name pierced a knife through his heart, but he managed to choke out: "No, I haven't. Why, is she ok?"

"I don't know! She was supposed to be home 2 and a half hours ago, and I can't find her anywhere. I've called everyone I could think of… I just don't know…" she broke off, letting the tears she had been holding back fall. "What if she's not ok? What if something happened?"

Logan was shocked. "I- I'm on my way. Meet me at Luke's." he said, getting up and hanging up with Lorelai.

She couldn't be hurt. This was his Ace he was talking about. He called a taxi and was speeding off through Stars Hollow before he let himself think about what he was doing.

* * *

Jess and Luke were up in the apartment, pacing back and forth, passing each other each time they crossed the tiny room. It probably would have been comical in any other situation, but under the circumstances, it wasn't funny at all. Jess finally went over to his bed, grabbed his jacket off of the mattress, and headed toward the door, calling back to Luke over his shoulder.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'm gonna find her."

* * *

"Rose, what if we can't find her?" Stephanie said, talking to her best friend on her cell phone.

"Don't worry, Steph. She'll be fine. I can feel it. It'll all end up ok."

"Hold on, I'm getting another call," Stephanie said, switching calls and talking to her new caller.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Steph," Juliet said.

"Any news?" Stephanie said, crossing her fingers.

"No, I'm headed to Stars Hollow right now. I've called everyone I could think of."

"Sounds good. I'm meeting Colin, Finn, and Rose at Logan's house and we're gonna drive slowly toward Rory's house, taking the roads she would have, and see if we can find any evidence of a crash or something," Stephanie admitted. She didn't like that they had to consider the possibility of Rory lying somewhere injured.

"Good idea. I'll call you if anything changes," Juliet said, hanging up the phone and sighing. She leaned heavily against Tristan in the back seat of the car that Paris was driving towards Rory's hometown, where an anxious Lorelai waited for Logan and a frustrated Luke wished for the millionth time that Jess had a cell phone.

* * *

Logan burst through the door of the diner, making eye contact with Lorelai, who shook her head minutely. He simply nodded and left the diner, looking around frantically for Rory.

Jess, in the mean time, was in his old beat up car, on the outskirts of Stars Hollow. He drove into the surrounding forest and slowed down, trying to find his best friend. He couldn't remember ever being this scared about anything. If something had happened to her, he didn't know how the town and all of her friends would cope. It would kill him. A flash of a rusty red, unnatural color caught the corner of his eye. He slowed down and took in the sight in front of him, his eyes bulged as he realized what it was he was seeing.

Before he could take two steps toward the wreck that was Dean Forrester's car, he heard voices behind him.

"Oh, God!" A frantic Juliet said, running right past Jess and up to the car. Tristan and Paris ran after her, and Jess snapped out of his trance and walked cautiously up to the car.

"Rory?" Tristan called out, his voice hoarse. "Rory, are you here?" he said, looking around the wreck, nervous as to what he would find.

Pain. Pain everywhere. Where was she? Who was she? What was going on? Rory let her mind adjust for a few minutes as she slowly remembered. Logan- the taxi, Dean, the tree… darkness. Oh, God. Was she dead? No, there was too much pain for this to be heaven. And… there was someone calling her name. Who was it? A voice she recognized. Logan? Her heart contracted painfully at the thought. No, it wasn't Logan. It was another blonde boy, another friend. Tristan!

"Mmmm?" Rory attempted to make her mouth work, and she heard a shout and suddenly there was someone at her side, his face up next to hers.

Tristan? No, it wasn't.

"Rory? Rory, oh, God, please answer me," she heard. Jess. What was he doing here?

"Paris, call 911!" she heard another voice call. Juliet.

And Paris was here?

"Rory, come on. You have to say something. Don't- don't do this, this is so cliché, don't…" Jess sounded like he was almost crying.

"Come on, Jess is right… you can't leave us, babe." Tristan.

"You'll be ok, hun!" Juliet.

"Gilmore, you're strong- just wake up before I get emotional." Paris.

She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't quite force her heavy eye lids to push themselves apart. She heard footsteps approaching fast. Probably the ambulance people. But she hadn't heard any sirens. How confusing. She could feel herself going deeper and deeper into unconsciousness. The concerned voices of her friends were fading quickly. And then…

"Ace?!"

_

* * *

_

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Lorelai heard the annoying but somehow reassuring sound of Rory's machine, keeping monotonous count of her heart beat. Everyone else was out in the waiting room, but the mother of the patient was sitting in the room, holding her hand. Logan had told her briefly about how he had come up to the group surrounding Rory and had called her name, and how her eyes had opened and he had held her while the solemn bunch waited for the ambulance. The group waiting in the hospital now consisted of Emily and Richard, Luke, Jess, Lane, Juliet, Tristan, Stephanie, Colin, Finn, Rosemary, and Logan. Lorelai had called Christopher, and Rory's concerned father was on his way to the hospital.

The conversation with the doctors had gone by in a haze, but she had been reassured by the doctor's confidence that Rory would be just fine. She had to go through surgery to remove some glass from her arm from the windshield, and had a pretty bad concussion. Her ankle was twisted, but not broken, and she was going to be ok. She was on drugs for the pain, and she was out cold, but she would wake up soon.

* * *

_She was ok. She was ok. She was ok. She was ok. She was ok._ He repeated the words over and over, but it did nothing to help him. Logan could not remember ever being more scared. And the only thing that he could think was that if she hadn't made it, he would only have their last conversation to remember, to cherish.

Lorelai walked out of the room, dried tear tracks on her cheeks. She fell sobbing into Luke's arms, and after looking shocked for a minute, he rested his arms around her and whispered comforting nothings into her ear.

Logan's heart sped up and he stared at the older Gilmore woman until she felt his gaze and looked up. Blue eyes locked with brown, and Lorelai attempted a weak smile to assure Logan that nothing had changed, that his soul mate was still breathing in the next room.

"Can I…" Logan said, his voice hoarse from crying and disuse. Lorelai nodded and Logan walked on unsteady legs over to the door and pushed it open slowly. His breath hitched as he took in the weak form in front of him- a pale body, hooked up to dangerous looking machines and breathing shakily. Rory. Ace.

He stepped forward and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. He grabbed her hand and lowered his head to it, brushing his lips against her skin lightly.

She stirred and mumbled something in her stupor. Then she moved again, and her eyes fluttered.

"Ace?" Logan said, his voice shaking.

"Logan?" her voice was weak, but loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm here, I- I don't know if you want me to be, but I had to come, your mom told me you were missing and I couldn't… I-"

"Thank you, for being here. I want you to stay," Rory said, smiling up at him. Suddenly, her eyes went wide, as if she had just realized what him being here meant. "But- Seattle! Your dad!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going anywhere," Logan said, sitting down in a chair next to her bed and kissing her temple lightly.

She signed in contentment. "Good."

* * *

"Lore!" a voice said from the end of the hall. Lorelai quickly jumped out of her place on Luke's lap and ran to Rory's father, throwing her arms around Christopher and hugging him tightly. "How is she?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"She'll be ok, Chris. Our baby will be ok," Lorelai said, laughing through her tears. "You can go in to see her once Logan is done."

"Who the Hell is Logan?" Christopher said. "Is he the punk that got her into this mess?"

"No, no. That was Dean. He hasn't shown up yet. Logan is her current boyfriend, Dean is her ex. Or maybe Logan is ex now, too… I'm not sure."

Chris cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Never mind. Come on over," Lorelai said, leading Chris over to the large section that Rory's group had claimed their own. She was relieved he was here. She needed him.

She curled up in the same chair as him, and for some reason her gaze traveled to Luke, who was staring intently at her. He looked away quickly when he noticed her staring back.

* * *

Almost everyone was either asleep or gone. Emily and Richard had headed out early after seeing Rory awake, and had promised to be there tomorrow morning to see her again. Tristan, Colin, Finn and their girlfriends were all gone. Lane was still there, fast asleep. Christopher and Lorelai were curled up in a position that looked somewhat uncomfortable in the same plastic chair, both out like a light. Luke was snoring softly. This left two teenage boys sitting in the dark hall of the hospital at almost two in the morning, staring in to space. They were both aware that the other was still awake, but they refused to make eye contact. What would they say?

_Hey man, I'm sorry your girlfriend is hurt._

_Yeah, Jess. I'm sorry your best friend is lying knocked out on pain killers, too._

Like that was going to happen. Jess sighed loudly. He tried to turn his eyes back to the book he had in his hands. It had been open for over three hours, and he hadn't read a single page.

Luke woke up and looked around, startled. Where was he? And then he remembered. Rory. The car accident. A sobbing Lorelai on his lap, wrapped in his arms. He remembered that even though the situation was not ideal, it had felt so… so… _right _for her to be there. He sighed. Why was life so complicated? Two seats over and in another seat across from him, two seventeen year old boys were thinking the same thing.

* * *

Review, I'm begging you!! Please Please Please! The more reviews, the faster I write. PLEASE!!


	14. Chapter 13

* * *

OMG I am so so sorry for keeping you all waiting. Hope it's worth it! And believe it or not, after this there's only an epilogue left to go and then it's over. :( Hope you enjoy! I'd like reviews! Ten of 'em before you get the epilogue!

Author's Note: For the sake of this fic, please pretend that Sherry and Gigi don't' exist? Thanks.

* * *

Chapter 13:

TWO WEEKS LATER

Two weeks of hospital time and she was finally free. Everything was perfect. She had a fractured wrist, and would have to wear a cast for six weeks, and she had a faint line where the stitches had been on her forehead, but she would be fine. She was more than fine. Dean had been found and was in Juvenile Hall for driving under the influence and leaving Rory for dead in the woods. Lorelai had made it very clear that she would get a restraining order on him if he ever tried to talk to Rory again. Two weeks of bed rest had given Rory and Logan a chance to sort everything out. She couldn't believe he had sacrificed his entire Winter break- not to mention Christmas- to spend every day with her in a poorly lighted hospital room. And while her Christmas experience was far less the fabulous, all of her family and friends had made time on Christmas Eve or day to make their way down and get their presents to her. Luckily she was not a procrastinator, and had all of her gifts put together before the accident.

She smiled, thinking back to late Christmas Eve night…

_Logan smiled and walked into Rory's room, somewhat tentatively. He had her present, and he also had something he had to tell her._

_"Merry Christmas, Ace."_

_"Hey Logan," she said, a grin over taking her features._

_"So… I have your present," he said._

_"Really?! Give it!" she said holding out her hand like a little child._

_Logan laughed and handed her a long and skinny package, which she proceeded to rip open. She lifted the lid and froze. A golden card hung from a chain. An Ace of Spades._

_"Oh, Logan… it's…" she said, tearing up._

_"You like it?" he said._

_"I love it."_

_Logan kissed her softy on the hand and took a deep breath._

_"Are things… ok with us, Rory?" he said, using her real name to show he was being serious._

_Rory knew exactly what he was referring to. They had never had the chance to discuss what had happened between them officially. It was understood that they were… back together. Or at least not broken up, but Rory didn't know anything other than that._

_"Yeah, yeah I think things are good," she said. "But… Seattle. Is your dad still…" she trailed off._

_"Colin's parents are letting me stay with them until l work things out. I'm not leaving, I don't care what my dad does," he said, firmness in his voice._

_"Good," she said. "So…"_

_"Rory, I love you," he blurted. He couldn't hold it in any longer. Rory's eyes widened._

_"You do?" she said after thirty seconds of shocked silence._

_"Yeah," Logan breathed._

_"Good." Rory said with a decisive nod of her head. "Because I love you too."_

* * *

Lorelai had had a fairly eventful Christmas time, too. For the past two weeks, she had been dating the father of her child. Yes, that's right. The day after they had learned that Rory would be alright, Chris had asked Lorelai to eat dinner with him at the cafeteria in the hospital, and from there the two had gone back to flirting and bantering like they had when they were younger. Before she knew it, he had invited her out on a real date, and for full extent of the time that Rory had been in the hospital, the two had gone out to eat almost every day. It was weird. But weird in a good way. Lorelai liked that they were taking things slow, building back up to a relationship, instead of just jumping as they had done in the past.

"Hey babe," she said, stepping up to Christopher and pecking him on the lips.

"Hey, Lore," they were in Luke's Diner, awaiting Logan and Rory's arrival. This being her first day back in town, she had wanted some time alone with her newly instated boyfriend before meeting up with her parents and friends for an informal Welcome Back Rory party.

Luke was behind the counter, watching the scene with growing jealousy. He kept on telling himself that she had only clung to him in the hospital waiting room because she had needed someone and he had been there. It had nothing to do with him. The moment Christopher had showed up, Luke had been left alone to watch her curl up next to a different man.

Logan came in with his arm wrapped tightly around Rory's waist, pulling her into him and whispering something into his ear.

Lorelai smiled and Chris looked disapproving.

"Ace, come to my place tonight. Movie night. Everyone. We haven't done that in a while," Logan said.

"Mom?" Rory looked with a pleading look to her parents. Rory was unsure what her opinion was on her mom and dad's new relationship. She had always thought that her mom and Luke would get together eventually, but it was every kid's dream to see their parents back together. Whatever made her mom happy made her happy.

"Sure, kid," Lorelai said to Rory.

"Lore, are you sure?" Chris whispered into her ear.

"Yeah, Chris, I'm sure. It's her boyfriend. Why wouldn't I let her go?" she gave him a confused glance.

"She _just _got out of the hospital, Lorelai," he said, talking down to her.

"Chris, it's fine," Lorelai said, pushing his arm off her shoulder and going up to Luke to order.

* * *

Everything was back to normal. Logan had to avoid Rory' injured arm as they cuddled up together, and she was given a dozen hugs and concerned questions from all her friends, but everything was otherwise back to the way it had been before Logan had discovered he was moving. Colin, Finn, and Tristan all treated her like a little sister and threatened to beat up Dean if they ever saw him again. Rory laughed at their threats, but on the inside she hated hearing them mention Dean.

Then the movies had started, and all bad thoughts had flown out of her head as she watched movies with the people that mattered to her the most, including the boy that she loved. That thought brought a huge grin to her face, which Logan noticed.

"What?" he said.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"About me?"

Rory snorted. "The size of your ego astounds me. I was thinking about my other lover, actually. Sorry you had to find out this way."

"Ouch, you hurt me, Ace," he smiled playfully and leaned down to kiss her.

* * *

The next morning saw Rory sleeping in at Logan's house and Lorelai and Christopher making their way into the diner for breakfast.

"Oh, Lukey! I need coffee!" Lorelai's sing-song voice carried back into the kitchen. Luke rolled his eyes as he stepped out and froze when he saw Christopher with her.

"Give me fooood!" Lorelai continued.

"What _kind_ of food do you want?"

"Mmmmh…. Pancakes, and bacon, and eggs, and coffee, and a puppy, and a pony and a Barbie, and…"

Luke tried to hide his smile as he rolled his eyes again and said "your _food_ is coming up. The animals are not."

"What about the Barbie?" Lorelai said, sticking her lower lip out, pouting.

"You should be happy that I'm giving you all the unhealthy food that'll shorten your life expectancy by 20 years. No Barbie's."

"Thanks Lukey."

"Stop calling me that," Luke said gruffly, turning away quickly to hide his smile.

"Never, LUKEY." Lorelai said, smiling at the banter that went back and forth between the two of them.

"Lorelai?" Chris said softy.

"Yeah?" she responded, her brow scrunching up in concern at Christopher's sad expression.

"Umm… never mind. Just forget it."

She normally would have pushed, but something told her not to.

* * *

"Staaaaaaay…" Logan said, pulling on her arm.

"I can't! I promised my mom lunch, and then I'm going to the book store with Jess."

"But… you just got here," Logan frowned.

Rory laughed. "Logan, I got here last night. Let go of my arm so I can get my stuff!" She was leaning toward Logan's bed, trying to reach her jacket.

"Ok," he said, abruptly taking his hand off of her arm so that she flopped unceremoniously on the bed. Logan jumped on immediately after and wrapped his arm around her waist, effectively trapping her.

"Logan!" Rory tried to keep a straight face, but she erupted into giggles and buried her head against his chest. "Mean."

"No, I'm not. You love me," Logan said arrogantly.

"Yeah, I do," Rory said seriously.

"Love you," Logan said, running a hand through her hair and kissing her tenderly.

"God, you two are sickening," Finn said from the doorway.

"What the Hell are you still doing here, Finn? I thought you left ten minutes ago," Logan said, angry at his friend for ruining their moment.

"Well, I didn't," he replied cheekily. "Come here, love, and give me a hug, and _then_ I'll go."

Rory smiled at Finn, and got up, stepping into his arms. Rory's grin widened when she realized that with Dean, the fact that she was hugging another guy would be an issue, not to mention the fact that she was hanging out with Jess for a couple of hours today. With Logan, it was ok. He trusted her and she trusted him completely. The moment Finn was gone, Rory felt herself being pulled back into Logan's arms.

"Oh, Ace! I almost forgot to tell you! I just got done confirming everything with Colin before he left this morning- you weren't awake yet. I'm moving in with him until my father agrees not to pester me to move anywhere far away."

"Logan, that's great!" she answered. Turning around and kissing him. He smiled against her lips. Everything was perfect.

* * *

"Luke?" Lorelai said cautiously, stepping into the diner.

"Hey," Luke said, continuing to wipe the counter, not looking up.

"Umm… can I talk to you for a second?" she sounded nervous. Something was up.

"What's up?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Did you say anything that could've… upset Christopher? I don't know what happened, but ever since we left the diner this morning he's been… well, I don't know exactly. But something's wrong."

"I can't think of anything…" Luke said. He hadn't said anything to Christopher this morning, had he?

"Ok… well, I'll try talking to him again when he meets me and Rory for Lunch- Oh…" Lorelai trailed off as the bell above the door rang. Lorelai came face to face with Christopher.

"Lorelai, could you talk to me outside for a second?" he said.

"Sure…" Lorelai threw a questioning glance to Luke over her shoulder before exiting the diner and being pulled roughly to the side by an obviously upset Christopher.

"Look, Lore… you know I want this to work between us, but… I can't stand in your way any more."

"What? Whoa, Chris, slow down, where is this coming from?"

"It's coming from… me. It's coming from the fact that it's painfully obvious that you love Luke."

"What? Chris that's not-" but she stopped, quite suddenly in the middle of her sentence. She couldn't deny it. She couldn't make herself say the words.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he said, somewhat sarcastically. "I'll see you around, inevitably, Lore. Good luck, I guess," he said, storming off in the direction of his car.

Lorelai lowered herself onto the curb and felt her shoulders shake with tearless sobs. But even though she was upset, she felt something else, too. Relief? Maybe. But mostly it was just a feeling that after this 3 week relationship with Christopher, she finally realized that he wasn't the one for her. It had been some closure for them, nothing more. Now she could turn her attention to…

"Lorelai, are you alright?" Luke asked, sitting down with her on the curb. She shook her head and threw her harms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. It felt _right_.

* * *

"Mom?" Rory gasped, covering her eyes with her hand. When she found that neither her mom or her dad were at the diner, she had made her way home to see if maybe they were running late. She had opened the door to find her mom making out with someone on the couch. It wasn't her dad. It was _Luke_!

"Ah! Rory! Um… hi,"

"Aw, jeez," Luke said, standing up and brushing past Rory out the door. "I'll see you later, Lorelai."

"What… Mom… what was…" Rory was having trouble finding words. She had just begun to adjust to her mom dating Christopher, when suddenly… _this?_

Lorelai let out a strangled laugh. "You'd better call Jess and cancel. This story involves junk food and movies and mother-daughter time."

"I'll stop by Luke's to tell Jess on my way to pick up supplies."

"I'll get the movies!" Lorelai shouted, running out the door.

* * *

Review?


	15. Epilogue

Author's Note: I regret to say that this is the end of this story. I would love to still hear what you have to say about this, so please review. I plan to write more in the future, so try to keep a look out!

* * *

Epilogue:

The Elder Gilmore's huge house was decorated extravagantly with New Years decorations. Lorelai had taken some convincing, but when she had been bugged enough, she decided that spending New Years Eve with her parents wasn't the worst thing possible. Now she was glad to have gone. Everything was perfect. Emily and Richard had exchanged small pleasantries with their daughter and granddaughter, and then quickly hastened away to tend to other guests.

Rory looked around the room with a huge smile on her face. Everything had finally fallen into place. She pressed herself closer to Logan as the two swayed on the dance floor, and her gaze traveled over everyone else in the room.

The elder Huntzbergers were there, a fact that Logan realized with great disgust. Mitchum had pulled Logan aside earlier in the evening and he had arrived back at Rory's side with a satisfied smile on his face. He had admitted to her that his father was dropping his plea for Logan to move to Seattle, and that he would like it if Logan moved back into his home.

Rory had smiled at that, because she knew that while Logan loved the McRae household, he truly missed living with his sister and his parents. They did love him, even if they had a funny way of showing it.

Juliet and Tristan could be seen dancing not far off, and Rory waved to her friends. Juliet smiled back at her and danced in their direction.

"Hey, guys. Only half an hour till the new year."

"Yeah, I know!" Rory said with a big grin.

"Guys!" four pairs of heads turned and saw a grinning Stephanie run up, dragging a tired looking Colin behind him. Finn and Rosemary trailed up not far behind.

With all four couples on the dance floor, they continued to sway to the music and chat about the New Year and the changes that were coming. Although dancing with Logan in a cast was some what awkward, he had accommodated that and they were both quite comfortable. Rory felt that this New Year would be a new beginning for her, where she could put Dean and her almost-break up with Logan behind her.

Her eyes swept around the room and landed on her mom, talking and laughing with Luke. She smiled softly. Her mom was happy. Happier than she had ever seen her before.

Emily had even been so gracious as to invite the inhabitants of Stars Hollow to the gathering. Rory looked around and saw Miss Patty pinching the butt of a very uncomfortable Jess, Babette trying to convince a very annoyed member of the orchestra that they should do a Karaoke session, and Taylor discussing the world of business with one of Richard's clients. Rory observed that Lane, Zach, Brian, Gill, Sookie, Jackson, Mrs. Kim, Andrew, Gypsy, and various other townsfolk were there. In fact, she couldn't think of anyone that wasn't there. Lulu was over in the corner drinking a glass of wine and Kirk was… where _was_ Kirk? Rory shook her head at the thought of him hiding somewhere in her grandparent's house and making a mess.

_"10! 9! 8! 7!" _Rory's head snapped around to Logan and he pulled her just a fraction closer.

_"6! 5! 4! 3!"_

"I love you, Ace," Logan breathed into her ear.

_"2! 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"_

Rory stepped forward and kissed him, her arms securely wrapped around his neck, and his around her waist. She vaguely heard the cheering going on around her, and would have kept herself in her own little world where only Logan and her exist, had it not been for the missing member of the Star's Hollow guest list.

Stepping forward wearing a full-on Easter bunny costume, Kirk stepped onto the stage and called out a loud "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" With a megaphone. Emily and Richard and several of the more elite members of the party looked insulted, but Rory just laughed.

"Oy with the poodles, already," she said.

"Huh?" Logan said.

"Never mind," she said, pulling him in for another deep, satisfying kiss.

THE END


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